


Frontierstuck

by ShinjiShazaki



Series: Alchemystuck [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, cowboys and pirates, fake alchemy, imperial intrigue, western!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-25
Updated: 2012-01-10
Packaged: 2017-10-19 18:42:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 114,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/204049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinjiShazaki/pseuds/ShinjiShazaki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We who trespass in the realm of that supposed God know well the risks, though we may never be prepared for the outcomes.  That is the manner of adventure and science, in the end, and it is the matter in which we are entangled here.  We have become brigandrifts, and I set out to find that creation of ours which so destroyed our lives.  Set out into the vastness of this alien planet we are flung to, with naught but my guns and the Thorns with me."<br/>-Rose Lalonde, journal entry: date unknown.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Of Brigandrifts and Hostelrykeeps

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Smooth Criminal](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/3385) by RavenScarlett. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off: I have a [tumblr](http://shinjishazaki.tumblr.com/), which has an ask box always open for questions about this story.  
> Second: I am reading this story out loud, and [this chapter](http://tindeck.com/listen/ztoi) has been completed. Each chapter will have its relevant reading(s) posted in the opening notes as it's completed.
> 
> So, uh--
> 
> I have some brilliantly amazing readers who've up and done fan art for the story, and I simply must share it all with you. There are actually a few images I'll post in the most relevant chapters, as sometimes they're a little spoilery. So here we go:
> 
> [Angerliz](http://angerliz.tumblr.com/): [Two Roses and a Karkat](http://angerliz.tumblr.com/post/7855377617/so-apparently-the-author-of-frontierstuck-saw-my), [John and his hammer](http://angerliz.tumblr.com/post/8375460964/so-shinji-requested-some-pirate-john-from), and [Rose as a young alchemist](http://angerliz.tumblr.com/post/9246388994/i-doubt-any-concerned-parties-are-awake-but).  
> [drcrunk](http://drcrunk.tumblr.com/): [A sketchy Karkat](http://drcrunk.tumblr.com/post/8032376830) and [a spiffy Karkat](http://drcrunk.tumblr.com/post/9026890043)  
> [Bakun](http://bakun.tumblr.com/): [Rose in a waistcoat](http://linncastillan.deviantart.com/art/Frontierstuck-Rose-244269149).
> 
> Y'all are amazing, and thank you.

As the proprietor of the hostelry at the edge of the desert, Kanaya Maryam was perfectly content to let herself have favorite patrons after a sweep and a half. Those who paid up front were smiled at; those who paid rather begrudgingly at the end of their stays were given insincere quirks of her lips; and those who refused to pay for even a single drink out of the many that had left them stumbling around her bar were immediately chased out either by the threat of her chainsaw or the beating wings of her lusus.

For that, hers was a place well favored. After a sweep, her lusus gained some respite when regulars began to sort out the more unreasonable riffraff. There was no stopping every single brawl that would break out; there was no way of stopping trolls from fighting in the first place. Kanaya was used to it. At times, the reasons behind the brawls were entertaining enough to allow the fights to begin in the first place.

All her news came in with her patrons. She learned of the uprisings started by upstart lowbloods, and she heard of the subsequent quelling slaughters. The tales of gamblignants on the high seas, embellished by the drunkards who swore they had escaped by the skin of their fangs, made her smile and enjoy the novels traders brought to her all the more. It was a rare day that passed that she would consider boring, given all the traffic between the desert’s edge and the forests to the west.

Of all her patrons, Karkat Vantas could easily be considered the worst. He was typically dragged in, half conscious and wrapped in heavy bandages no matter how small the injuries, by his shrieking lusus. He started fights that nearly turned into full scale riots in the small town the hostelry was part of at the slightest provocation, and he had the largest tab in the history of the establishment. However, it was hardly in Kanaya to turn away her best source of new information. That he had shoved himself into her pale quadrant didn’t exactly hurt, either.

He gave her the rumor as he gave her all news: sloppily drunk over a pitcher of ale. Outside, the night was starting to fade; all sensible trolls had retreated to their dark, dark respiteblocks for the day. He sat slouched at the bar, the two of them the only trolls left awake; their lusii drowsed in the corners. Idly, out of rhythm, he scratched at the bar with one hand and held tight as death to the pitcher’s handle with the other. She swept the tiny curlings of wood away when he closed his hand.

“’Ssss, ‘s a bunch of hoofbeast shit, M’ry’m,” he slurred.

“Is it?”

He gave a backhanded slap to the air, wobbling on his stool as he did. “’F fucking course it is! Fuckin’ highbloods just stomping all over us for no grubfucking reason!” He slumped over the bar once more, clenching and unclenching his hand. Around his wrist was a wide swath of bandages. She could not see even a tiny stain on the white. She did not need to see one to know what lay beneath.

“I suppose you’re going to give me one of your famous diatribes about the sorry state of the hemospectrum and all the evils that are perpetuated by adhering to the caste system?”

“I—” He paused and looked at her. Though his eyes were squinted as they always were, she knew the color of his irises perfectly. “Yeah. _Yeah_. You fuckin’ get it. You...you’re jade, for Gog’s sake. Got a virgin mother grub for your lusus an’ everythin’. But you just don’t give one tiny piece of shit about any of it.” He lifted his head and tilted backward to slosh the ale into his mouth. He grumbled, snorted, and wiped his mouth with his arm when he hunched down again. “A highblood comes in an’ messes with you and you just send him right the fuck back out the door.” He grumbled again and his head tipped lower. “Got a good thinkpan. Bet you’d know what the fuck to do if any of those freak brigandrifts came here.”

She raised a brow. “Brigandrifts? I have brigandrifts come and go almost every day.”

“I said _freak_ brigandrifts.” He jerked upright, letting go of the pitcher to hide his nubby horns with his hands. “Don’t have any horns, don’t have any fangs, and they’re pale like motherfucking rainbow drinkers—which by the way makes the whole no-fangs thing make even _less_ fucking sense, the assholes.” He wobbled dangerously before crashing back down on the bar.

She looked at the front door a moment. “No horns at all?”

“Not even fucking tiny things like mine!” He took a moment to shake his head and lift one finger to point at her face. “An’ they’re gonna fuckin’ grow in more, all right?” He squinted until he could barely see, jabbing his finger toward her horns. “You think you’re better than me with that fucking hook?”

“No, Karkat, I do not consider myself your better because of my horns.” She smiled and patted him on the head. Even if he had not been halfway to falling onto the floor, she would have been able to pull her hand back in time to dodge the flailing punch aimed at it.

“But _they_ fuckin’ do!” he shouted. He waved one arm toward the door. “Running around actin’ like they’ve got better fuckin’ blood than that nook-licking Peixes!”

Kanaya sighed, flicking her eyes up to the ceiling. No noise came down. “You really should stop talking about the empress apparent like that.”

“I don’t fuckin’ care,” he snapped. “Who the hell’s listening to the freak with—with tiny ass horns, anyway?” He frowned and looked at the pitcher. “Just you. And I don’t have to fuckin’ not tell you what I’m thinkin’...right?”

“No,” she said quietly. When she patted his head again, he did not swipe at her. She let out an amused puff of breath. “You’re welcome to say what you want to me.”

“Good.” He took a deep breath and let it out in a heavy, weary sigh. “You’re...you’re a good troll, Maryam. Kanaya.” Gravity decided to make his head weigh more than it had a moment before, and he slouched so far forward his scraggly black hair brushed at the scratched, stained wood. “Those freak brigandrifts are looking for fucking _somethin’_. I heard that somewhere. An’ someone said they’re supposed to be coming this way.”

“Oh? Is that so?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “So I thought...I should come make sure my moirail’s okay.” He put his forehead down. “You come to me the first second you think trouble’s around. Got it?”

“As you command, oh fearless moirail leader.”

After a moment of quiet, his reply came: a stuttering stupor-snore. The noise roused his lusus, which proclaimed its weariness by way of a squawk. Slowly, it rose to its feet and scuttled along. Karkat was gathered up in its claws as gently as possible; he was too drunk to manage even a swing at his custodial assailant. His snores trailed behind him as the lusus took him to their rented room, and she let out an amused sigh when silence had resumed.

Though it was a general truth that no sane, normal troll left the safety of their hive during the daylight, Kanaya enjoyed the solitary quiet it afforded her; the strong wind she could hear was rather pleasant. Very few patrons ever came out during the bright times, and fewer still came in from outside. With Karkat finally unconscious and the room emptied, she slipped free a book from a shelf beneath the counter. A sliver of paper emblazoned with her sign kept her place, and she set it atop the fresh scratch marks as she moved to sit on the stool her moirail had once occupied.

How much time had passed between her opening the book and catching the sound of hooves on the dusty ground outside, she could only count in the pages that she had turned. She closed the book around her finger and looked to the swinging double doors. The glare off the white dust was nearly blinding, but the filthy brown coat that walked in broke through it. What caught her eye next was the remarkably bright violet scarf pulled high on the person’s face, and a stripe of the same color on the stiff brown hat on their head. Coughing, blinking repeatedly, they walked inside and slapped at the white dust that clung to their coat.

Sliding off the stool, smoothing her long green skirt as she went, Kanaya asked, “How can I help you today?”

“Wa—” A fit of loud coughing. “Water. Please.”

She smiled and went behind the bar. As she walked, she took the bookmark in hand and closed the book about it. “Gladly. You may take a seat.” When her offer had been taken, she held out her hand. “But I’ll need your guns.”

Violet eyes looked up at her, so narrow from the dust in them and so darkened by the near-black grime on the face around them that she could barely spot the color.

“If you would. I have strict rules about weaponry here.”

Another cough. “All right, all right.” They sat up straight and reached inside the long coat. A small snap and shuffle of leather against cloth, and the two holsters that had been visible on their hips were handed over.

“Don’t worry,” she murmured, “I’ll return them when you leave.” She examined the guns a moment, the clean white metal protected by the scuffed brown leather. The moment passed, and she crouched to unlock a cabinet with one of the keys on the large ring on her waist, set them inside amidst the myriad other weapons, and locked it again. As she rose, she took hold of a clean glass. The sink was her destination, and she returned with clear, shining water captured in the cup.

“Thank you,” the stranger said through the mess in their throat. The scarf was tugged down enough to bring the glass close to lips colored faint pink. Kanaya raised a brow and remained silent. The water was drained in one go, but the swallow that marked the end was rather quiet. A long, shaking sigh came in time with the clunk of the glass on the bar. They barely reacted when Kanaya took the glass and refilled it, the filthy hand simply curling slightly shut.

“How long have you been out in the desert?” she asked.

“What?”

“I’ve seen a great deal of trolls come in absolutely coated with sand and dirt, and each and every one of them spent a long while in the desert.” She smiled and put the glass down. “How long?”

“I haven’t exactly been keeping track of how long I’ve been moving,” the stranger muttered. They rubbed at their eyes, smearing the filth even darker. “A while. I finally came to this town and saw that there was an inn. I need somewhere to stay for a few days.” They rummaged inside the coat and brought out a small pouch. “This should cover it all.”

She picked it up and heard the hearty clinking within. A glance inside showed the bright, familiar colors of good coins. “It will indeed.” She crouched once more to set the pouch in a small safe beside the gun cabinet and returned to her feet when the lock was closed. “So, what kind of accommodations would you like?”

“A room with a bath.”

“Ah. Of course.” Kanaya turned and walked away, picking another key from her ring. A tall cabinet set deep in the wall beside the arrangement of bottles was opened. More keys were hung there, organized around clear painted numbers. They were few in number, and she chose one swiftly. “Room four. I cleaned it just yesterday. It has one of the finest baths I have to offer.” She closed the cabinet and returned to set the key beside the stranger’s hand. “You can take the glass with you to drink as much as you need. It’s at the end of the hallway to the left.”

A long sigh. “Thank you.” They rose to their feet, glass in one hand and the other rubbing at the back of their neck through the scarf. Kanaya’s eyes followed them as they went, and she did not blink even when she heard the door open and close. She picked up the book and resumed reading. The chapter she finished some time later, and the book she closed once again. She returned the book to its place on the shelf beneath the counter, and knelt down. In the dark lay her chainsaw, and into the dark she reached her hand.

\-------

The bathtub had to be filled and drained twice before the grime was completely scrubbed off from flesh and hair. When cleanliness had been returned to, they sank into the hot water with a long groan. They soaked and sat and kept their eyes closed. How long it had been since a good bath was taken, there was no idea in their mind.

Metal clinked on the porcelain near their head. They did not open their eyes.

“I won’t be presumptuous enough to entertain the idea that you could have known what I’ve heard,” Kanaya said quietly. “Though I must assume that you’re at least aware of the rumors that are floating about.”

“That’s a fair assumption.”

“You are aware of the rumors telling of the brigandrifts wandering around Alternia with skin as pale as a rainbow drinker’s. You are aware that they have no horns, and they do not have fangs.” She lifted the chainsaw slightly, holding it above their head. “And it seems that I have a new fact to add. At least one of them has bright yellow hair.” She paused; she tilted forward. The water was quite clear. “And is a woman.”

“Correct. You may add that to your rumor’s facts.”

“I will have one more fact to add.” She took hold of the chainsaw’s starter. “You are very obviously not a troll. I will have you tell me what you are.”

“And I will not have you threaten me with a chainsaw for the sake of those facts.”

Before she could dodge away, the woman reached back and over her head to tap a knitting needle against the chainsaw. With a crackle and a small flash, the chainsaw vanished. She held a tube of lipstick in her hand. She stared; her eyes grew wide. At the breaking of water, she jerked her head up and stepped back. The woman, unabashedly naked, strode to the chair that held her clothes. Drying with the towel that was draped on the chair’s high back, she began to dress.

“I have no desire to kill a troll that’s only threatened me out of a desire to protect what’s hers,” she said. “I find that rather noble, even if the chainsaw is a tad...brutish.” She pulled on her scuffed blue jeans before taking hold of her white shirt. “So. Let’s come to an agreement. You don’t try to kill me, you let me stay here, and I’ll tell you a few things and make sure not to start a ruckus before I depart.”

Her voice came out hushed when she asked, “How did you do that?”

“Transmute your chainsaw?” She paused in buttoning the shirt to turn toward her and lift up one hand. The knitting needle from before appeared from thin air betwixt her fingers, and she twirled it idly. In the slowness of its motion, Kanaya could see the spiraling, twisting white-black pattern of the metal and the tiny skull at the wide end. “The Thorns are an alchemic catalyst. The metal became the tube, and the oil became the lipstick inside.” She waved her hand in dismissal and the needle vanished. The buttoning was resumed.

“Alchemy.”

“Yes.”

“Alchemy isn’t real.”

She raised a thin brow, frowning. “Given your eloquence, I assumed you to be somewhat erudite. Please don’t prove me mistaken by denying what you’ve just experienced.”

“Alchemy—alchemy is just a form of ridiculous fake _magic_ —”

“I am not here to debate the existence of magic,” the woman said. “Alchemy is a very precise science, and it is one that I understand on every count there is.”

“And how do you explain that summoning trick you used?”

“Again, I am not here to debate the existence of magic.” She tucked the shirt neatly into her jeans and did up the fly. Her belt was retrieved in turn and buckled. “But my catalyst is bonded to me, and it comes to my hand when I need it to.”

“Do you expect me to believe that?”

“That depends. Do you expect me to try to explain any of this to a woman who steadfastly denies the blatantly obvious?”

She paused. She crossed her arms. “Very well. Explain yourself. If you are not a troll, what are you?”

“A human. A creature alien to this planet, Alternia.”

Kanaya looked at her with a raised brow.

“I am from Earth. I have no idea how far away it is from Alternia, nor do I know if it’s even in the same universe. For all we know, the result of our failed alchemy was actually our deaths and this is some kind of divine punishment for our unholy science.” She smirked. “As a scientist, though, I am disinclined to believe in any sort of god until I see the proof, and thus I understand that I am still alive.”

“Who, pray tell, are ‘we?’”

“The half siblings John Egbert and Jade Harley, myself, and my half brother Dave Strider.”

“And your name is?”

“Ah. My apologies. Rose Lalonde. Yours?”

“Kanaya Maryam.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

A pause. She took a breath. “All right. You may allow yourself to be deluded enough to think I believe any of your claims. What is it that you’re here for?”

With a long sigh, Rose sat down in the chair. Sitting prim, she crossed her legs at the knees. “That depends on which one of us you ask. John and Jade would like to reverse our little alchemy mishap and return to Earth, as they’re very homesick after three of your sweeps. Dave is seeking a kind of justice.”

“ _What_ kind of justice?”

She hummed in thought. “I suppose the justice that a guilty party wants done to absolve himself. This _is_ our fault, in the end.”

“What is?”

She smiled, and there was nothing good contained within it. “Ah. That’s connected to what I’m here for. Our alchemy backfired, as I’ve stated. We went a sweep living under the care of a couple of rather sympathetic trolls, we four and our guardians. And then we were shown that our tremendous fuck-up resulted in a delayed... _creation_ that screwed us all the more.”

Kanaya stared, eyes narrow. “A creation?”

“Oh yes. I’m not sure if you could call him a homunculus or not, but he’s certainly something that our mistakes created. And, much like being exiled to this planet, we were dealt another punishment that seems beautifully karmic if you happen to believe in it.” She let out a hum that might have been amused if not for the cruel ugliness of her smile. “He found us, and he slaughtered our guardians. He killed my mother and left her body to rot under this blistering sun of yours.”

Rose continued to smile, and laced her fingers together when she put her hands on her knee. “Dave decided to name him Jack Noir. I am here to kill him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I write something based on a drawing, it often winds up just scarpering off to some bizarre little tangent world and living happily as a vignette.
> 
> For this, I asked _one_ little question to myself, and it all exploded in my skull. And I _really_ like it.


	2. The Nature of Alchemy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The reading of this chapter.](http://tindeck.com/listen/nnwx)
> 
> Fan art relevant to this chapter:
> 
> [Skarita](http://skaritagonehomestuck.tumblr.com/): [Homunculus](http://skaritagonehomestuck.tumblr.com/post/9288028536/hey-shinji-i-just-i-know-this-isnt-entirely).  
> [Rinacat:](http://rinacat.tumblr.com/) [Pinned](http://rinacat.tumblr.com/post/10405684399/though-she-struggled-there-was-not-enough).

A short pause was all that came before Kanaya put her hand to her forehead and sighed loudly. “I’m afraid you’ve bested me.”

“Pardon?” Rose asked.

“My moirail once assured me I was simply the best at being a flighty broad with a copious amount of snarky horseshit,” she replied. “But I have been bested. You are the flightiest broad on all of Alternia. I cannot hope to compete, what with that veritable mountain of snarky horseshit.”

Rose chuckled. “And what part of it, exactly, is snarky horseshit?”

“Every last syllable that came out of your mouth.”

“Oh, come now.” She lifted her arms and spread them wide. “You’re looking at a person that cannot possibly _be_ on Alternia but for the grace of some cosmic fuck-up.”

“Trolls genetics are not without mutations,” Kanaya said. “My moirail doesn’t even exist on the hemospectrum. You may be an entirely new variant on troll mutation.”

Her arms lowered, hands returning to her lap. “And how will you explain away my transmuting your chainsaw? Is _magic_ to be a more rational explanation for you?”

She took her hand from her face and gave Rose the most withering stare she could create. When all that was given in return was another chuckle, she sighed. “Do you honestly expect me to believe you about _any_ of this?”

“Hardly,” she said. “Most people back on Earth didn’t believe we could use alchemy. We were fortunate enough to live in times that prohibited the burning of so-called ‘witches,’ though we tended to live a bit removed from normal society.”

“So it’s not a normal thing for...‘humans,’ was it?”

“Correct.”

“Humans cannot regularly perform alchemy?”

“Many have tried throughout the years. From what my mother told me, our families were the most successful in recent memory. Mister Harley, Jade’s grandfather, was a particularly skilled alchemist.”

“Why is that?”

Rose paused. The smirk that had gone for explaining came back, and a faint tilt of the head matched it. “Why, Miss Maryam. Are you beginning to believe this horribly mutated troll’s story?”

She gave nothing, neither in her face nor in her voice, when she said, “I enjoy stories. Entertain me enough and I won’t bring in any enterprising trolls looking for potential bounties.”

“Ah. All right, then.” She did not speak, instead turning her fingers and bringing a needle back into reality. A tap to the leg of the chair she sat in sent arcs of electricity crackling along the floor. A new chair was created beside Kanaya, made up of the worn wooden floorboards. She looked askance at it.

“I haven’t booby-trapped it,” Rose said as she dismissed the needle. “I just see no reason to force my audience to stand while I’m seated.”

Slowly, she sat. “All right. Explain what you said.”

“As you wish.” She sat up straighter, hands finding a place on her knee once more. “The reason Mister Harley was known as a skilled alchemist and the reason my mother was his disciple are one in the same. Alchemy is not magic. It requires material and energy. Before, any sort of successful alchemy required too much energy to be feasibly done. Mister Harley theorized the existence of a universal constant of power, based on old myths and archeological findings. He called it the Green Sun Theorem, and he proved its existence by alchemizing—from scratch—a dog imbued with limitless energy and a plethora of abilities. He named it Becquerel, though we all called him Bec.

“Following that, he created notations that could be followed to tap into the energy of the Green Sun for any formula an alchemist could make. It’s how we created our catalysts. With them, we don’t even have to muck about with formulae—we simply use the Green Sun and alchemize whatever we want. It’s our very own Philosopher’s Stone.”

“And yet you continue to claim it _isn’t_ magic,” Kanaya said, brow raised.

“The Green Sun’s existence has been incontrovertibly proven through our alchemy. However absurd its perpetual energy capabilities seem, it is real, and it is how we perform alchemy.” She sat forward, smirking even wider than before. “Have I entertained you enough?”

“Perform your alchemy without your wand.”

“Needles. The Thorns of Oglogoth, if you’d like the proper title.”

“Either way.”

“All right.” She rose to her feet. From within her long coat she took a pencil; her free hand she held out. “Your lipstick, please.”

Kanaya tossed it to her and sat back to watch as Rose crouched. A practiced hand drew a perfect circle and added in designs and symbols that were meaningless to her. After a pause, the Virgo symbol was sketched in the center, and the lipstick set atop it. Rose put the pencil behind one ear before laying her hands on the edge of the circle. Because she was watching so closely, Kanaya was able to see the green tinge that suffused the electrical arcing that came from the formula lines. They reached up and fell upon the lipstick, as if to simply unwrap it. The flash that came suddenly was blinding, and all that remained when she opened her eyes was her chainsaw, unchanged save for a green Virgo symbol on the engine casing.

“I saw the sign on your blouse,” Rose said. As she took to her feet, she picked up the chainsaw with both hands. “You seem to have a flair for fashion, despite your weapon of choice.” She offered the thing as best one could offer a chainsaw.

Kanaya stared.

Rose managed to not laugh. “You always look as though you expect me to have booby-trapped everything I alchemize.” She tilted the chainsaw down, pressing forward the handle and starter. “I haven’t done anything beyond adding the symbol.”

Slowly, carefully, she took the chainsaw. Her fingers brushed Rose’s hands, and she felt the warm skin on the pads of her fingertips. She set the chainsaw aside, and kept her eyes fixed on the other woman as she returned to her chair and sat with a sigh. “What do you intend to do here?”

“Pardon?”

“I want to know what it is you intend to do here. Why did you come to _this_ town and _my_ hostelry?”

“I’m following a lead about Noir. This was the first town I came across after riding through the desert, and yours is the only place to stay.” She lifted one hand and shrugged. “Complete coincidence and opportunity.”

“And you intend to leave without causing problems?”

“I’ve already said as much. It’s quite inhospitable to cause trouble for your host.”

A pause of silence. “How much do you expect me to trust your word in that regard?”

“As much as I would trust you to not take my life in the meantime.”

Another pause, longer than before. She held out her hand. “I ask that you give your wa—the Thorns to me.”

A chuckle. “You don’t trust me that much, then?”

“I have rules about weapons here.”

“And so you do,” Rose said. She lifted both hands, turning her fingers to bring both needles out from nothingness. Once more, she tapped the legs of her chair. Small flashes spoke of more alchemy, and she brought her hands back up with a pair of wooden needles. She gave up the Thorns willingly.

“What do you need those for?” Kanaya asked.

“The Thorns really were knitting needles, once upon a time. I like to knit.”

She blinked, brows drawing together as her head rocked back. “You are a very strange person, Miss Lalonde.”

“You may call me Rose, Miss Maryam.”

A moment of hesitation came before she stood. “And so I may.” Without another pause, without another word, she left the room.

\-------

Had he been able to get any real sleep, Karkat might not have been so hung-over when he was violently shaken awake. The punch he threw was caught in a grip he knew well, and he groaned as he rolled his head to one side to let free his eyes from the sopor slime.

“Shit on a rampaging slitherbeast, Maryam,” he said. “What the fuck do you want?”

“We have to talk. Now. Get out.”

He yelped as she pulled him halfway out of his recuperacoon; he barely managed to grab hold of the edge to stay inside. “What the _fuck_?” He jerked back when she shoved long knitting needles toward his face.

“Look at these,” she said.

“You make clothes,” he grumbled, “I get it. You don’t need to wake me up to show me some new skirt you made.”

“These belong to one of the brigandrifts,” she said. “They belong to an alien creature who is female and she used them to perform alchemy.” She held them closer to him. “ _Real_ alchemy. It looks like magic, but her explanations and demonstrations assure me it’s alchemy.”

“For fuck’s sake,” he said in a drawling groan. “I’m not going to read any of your stupid shitty novels just to listen to you make shit up.”

“Karkat, we have known each other for sweeps, and have been moirails for almost as long. You know that I am completely incapable of fabricating a story. I have absolutely no reason to lie to you.”

He blinked, eyes narrow then out of thought instead of pained exhaustion. He looked past her, wincing at the traces of light that managed to slip through the heavy shutters on the window. “It’s the middle of the day?”

“Yes.”

After a long-suffering sigh, he pulled himself out of the recuperacoon. Though he stumbled at first, bare feet and legs and boxer shorts slippery with slime, he took to steadiness quickly. He blinked again when she held out a towel. “How the fuck long did you wait until you woke me up?”

“As long as I could,” she said. The moment the towel was out of her hands, she began to pace the room, bringing one hand to her chin and holding the needles in the other. “Which was not very long, admittedly. You must understand, Karkat, that despite your drunken statements shortly before daybreak, I have no idea whatsoever to do with this brigandrift here. I am absolutely befuddled and so intrigued that I’m certain she mistook my awe for terror.”

“ _Intrigued_?” He lifted his head, face clean from the slime to show his toothy sneer. “What the fuck is there to be intrigued about? She’s a freak brigandrift and you should toss her ass out. I vote that her ass gets bisected by a good chainsaw swing, but that’s just me.”

She waved her hand haphazardly. “No, no. I’m not entirely sure I can outpace her in a weapons draw, though I must admit that I was caught entirely off guard when she drew a needle to confront me. She already changed my chainsaw into a tube of lipstick once.”

In scrubbing at his right arm, he started so fiercely that he ripped the scabbing on his wrist clean off. “She did _what_?”

“Alchemy, Karkat. I informed you of that at the beginning.”

“Whoa, no, you _said_ alchemy and I heard ‘bluh bluh shitty story.’ What the fuck do you mean she turned your chainsaw into lipstick?”

“Just that. She changed it back before I left her in her room and took the needles with me.” Her pacing quickened, and she stared at the things in her hand. “I want to hesitate to believe her, but the more I think back on it the more foolish it seems to continue to deny what I’ve seen in front of me.”

He reached out when she passed near and snatched the needles out of her hand. When she tried to retrieve them, he held her back and leaned to keep them out of reach. “Gog dammit, Maryam, I _know_ that look.”

“What?”

“You’ve got that fucking look on your face that you get every time I tell you about what new shitty thing I’ve gone through while running around with my mutant blood,” he said. “And you get it when you read those stupid books and when you hear about the crazy fucks running around on the ocean. You just _want_ to believe her story.”

“Karkat, that is ridiculous. I have witnessed her perform this alchemy. It’s no longer a matter of wanting or not wanting to believe in a story.”

“The fuck it’s not! If you’re going to fuck around about kicking out a brigandrift because you want to hear a new story, then I’m going to go throw her freak ass out so hard she’s going to never come near this town again!” He shoved her back once more and turned away, but was halted when she grabbed hold of his bleeding wrist.

“No,” she hissed. “You don’t understand. I _did_ come to ask you for advice on how to handle this, but we cannot go rushing in to attack her. Those needles do not exist with any sense of normality.”

He stared at her.

“I am not being facetious. She can make them disappear, and she can make them come to her hands whenever she wants. I have no doubt that she can make them disappear out of our hands if we try to attack her. If we attack, we will be fighting against something we have never seen before, and I have even less desire to inflict that danger upon you than to dare it myself.”

“Thanks for the pale thought, but that doesn’t make me not want to go cut her hands off.”

“Karkat, _please_. We must come up with some sort of plan.”

He stared until the long nail of pain in his skull made him close his eyes and groan. He settled and stopped trying to pull his arm from her grasp. “Okay, fine.” With another groan, he rubbed gingerly at his forehead. “Let me put some fucking pants on and we’ll figure out what to do with the witch-bitch.”

She let him shuffle away, chewing at the nail on one thumb while he rummaged in the small rucksack he had tossed in a corner. He pulled on a pair of scuffed, faded black jeans that were ripped at the heels and shredded at the knees, and she let out a soft sigh at the sight of them. “I do wish you would let me at least patch those.”

“Okay, fucking focus on something other than clothing for a second, idiot.” He forewent a shirt, returning with a needle in each hand. “Have you tried breaking these things?”

“I was unable to destroy them, even with my chainsaw.”

He sighed and sneered at them. Slowly, he tilted his head to one side and brought them closer for inspection. Enfolding them in both hands, he tried to snap them in half. Green electricity arced around his hands, biting at his flesh, and he yelped as he threw them away. Kanaya caught them, and he strung together a list of curses as he waved his scorched hands in the air to cool them.

“Yes, that was about the sum of my efforts,” she said. “I doubt they can be destroyed without some sort of alchemic intervention, which we have no means to accomplish.”

“What the shit does she even want?” he snarled.

“She claims that all she wants is to rest before being on her way.”

“What _else_ does she want?”

“From what she said, she’s hunting a creature that she and the other brigandrifts inadvertently created with the remnants of the failed alchemy that brought them to Alternia.”

He put his hands on his face. “Oh Gog. I can’t fucking believe you’re buying this pile of horseshit.”

“It is hardly what I want to purchase.”

“All she wants out of you is a place to sleep?”

“Supposedly.”

“Okay, fine. She gets a little day nap like a good wriggler and then you throw her the fuck out. If she bitches, tell her she’s a shitty patron. Simple.”

“I doubt that.”

“Then we cut her fucking hands off so she can’t do her freaky magic—”

“Alchemy.”

“Her _freaky magic_ , and we cut off her head if she keeps bitching. It’s not like you’re trying to take down a fucking dragon.”

She was silent.

He sighed, rubbing at the back of his pounding head. At the sight of the blood flowing down his arm, bright red even in the dim room, he paused. He took his hand away from his head and watched the wound on his wrist bleed freely. “We get her out of here at nightfall.”

She looked at him.

“We swear on it.” He held out his hand. “You swear that you’re going to get her the fuck out of here, and I swear that I’ll help you if you need it.”

Silence.

“Either you mean it or you don’t. Come on.”

She took in a slow, deep breath. Letting it seep from her mouth, she took her hand away. After pushing up her sleeve, she cut her right wrist with a long fang. The jade blood flowed as easily as did the red, and she reached out in time with Karkat. They took each other’s arms, palms coming to rest over the wounds they had made. With heat on her hand and coolness on his, they shook.

\-------

In the earliest hours of the night, when most trolls were just waking for the long dark of the Alternian night, Kanaya found Rose sleeping. The recuperacoon in the farthest, darkest corner was untouched, though the woman was slumped against the wall nearby. Her arms were folded over her stomach, one leg turned on its side as though it had fallen from atop its compatriot in the small movement of slumber.

She stepped inside and closed the door silently behind her. Back to the wood, she watched her sleep. From a distance, she could not see the rise and fall of her shoulders in breathing, but the soft hissing inhales and exhales told her of the slow, deep pace. Without the hat, without the fierceness that had forced her to take in the barest details before, Kanaya could see that her blonde hair was bright to the point that the tips of the strands faded into white. It stood out in the dark, so unlike anything she had seen.

It wasn’t a particularly strange thing to see female trolls walking in the world clad in trousers and pants, but standing there in her deep green skirt and white blouse, she found the jeans somehow striking. The small bare feet that came from the legs, skin perfectly pale, were all the more different and drew her eyes closely. She wondered if the tone was healthy, if the dusting of some duskier shade on her cheeks was normal.

The rustle of cloth against wood made her start and cease staring into the details. Rose tilted to one side in jerking angles, farther and farther until she began to slip steadily over. Her spine seized, and she straightened with a groan muffled by her lips. Though she shifted her shoulders and settled back against the wall, she blinked open her eyes. Gaze downcast at first, she saw the polished black shoes at the other end of the room and grabbed at the air. A needle was caught in her fingers, but she halted when she looked up.

“Is it common for you to enter your patrons’ rooms while they sleep?” she asked, voice bleary.

“Only if I think they’re going to cause trouble.”

She sniffed and rubbed at her eyes. “Don’t trolls usually cause trouble in general?”

“You must admit you’re something of a special case.”

“All right, granted.” Rose neither stretched nor stood, merely opening her eyes properly to look at Kanaya. “Is there something you needed from me?” She blinked, and a tiny smirk came to her sleepy face. “Are you here to properly run me out?”

Silence.

“Ah.” She stood slowly, dusting off the back of her jeans when she was on her feet. “I must admit I’m not too surprised.”

“Why is that?”

“In the sweeps we’ve spent here, there were only two trolls who didn’t try to kill us in the end, and they were among the lowest on this peculiar hemospectrum of yours.” She gestured at Kanaya’s bandaged wrist and the green stain on the cloth. “Most trolls higher on the spectrum want us gone or dead. Now that I see you’re almost among nobility, I amend my statement. I’m only surprised you didn’t try to kill me in my sleep.”

Every muscle in Kanaya’s back tightened instantly. “I beg your pardon?”

“I told you before that I trusted you not to murder me as much as you believed my story. I did not think for a moment that you believed me.”

“You honestly expected me to kill you?”

She went to the corner of the room where she had set her things, waving a hand over one shoulder. “Absolutely. You’re a troll, after all.”

“What is _that_ supposed to mean?”

“Trolls are extremely violent creatures,” Rose said as she picked up her coat. She pulled it onto her shoulders with a soft exhale. “Quick to annihilate any sort of major deviation, be it political or physical. The higher on your hemospectrum, the more ferociously you adhere to the practice of culling. Given your unique shade of green, I would have estimated the time between my exposure and your attempt to kill me to be much shorter.”

“Are you insinuating that I am nothing more than a simpleminded murderer?”

“Only simpleminded insofar as your species’ propensity for murdering rather needlessly. You yourself really are quite articulate.” She lifted her bag on one shoulder, picking up her hat with her free hand. When it was safely on her head and her bag was settled firmly, she turned her fingers to reclaim the needle’s twin. “I’ll have my guns back, and then I’ll be on my way.”

Kanaya did not move when Rose came near; she looked down her nose to keep their gaze. Her mouth was set in a frown, fangs bright on her black lips.

“Move,” Rose said.

“I am not a mindless murderer.”

She scoffed. “You’re a troll.”

“That equates to less than nothing. Would you like me to participate in this assumption by sight game you’re playing? Based on what I’ve seen of you, I’d have to say humans are soft little creatures that have to rely on magic and sarcasm to scrape by and live their small, cruel lives.”

Rose’s smirk returned, made dark with the hat tilted over her face. “Your fangs are showing, Miss Maryam.”

“You wish you had fangs to show.”

Movement was expected, and every tiny sign of it caught her eye instantly. The twitching of shoulders up, elbows bending, hands rising; everything was seen, and she knew her reaction as it happened. She slid one foot forward, pushing hard against one of Rose’s to break her balance. The moving wrists she snatched hold of, and she made Rose turn in her stumbling. Kanaya slammed her against the door hard enough for the frame to rattle, pining her arms to the side. Her hat slid off her head and fell quietly to the floor.

Though she struggled, there was not enough strength in her to win out against the troll’s grip. When she made to move her hands and bring the needles to the wall, Kanaya squeezed her wrists painfully tight, and her fingers were seized up in a spasm that made her drop them. Before she could call them back, Kanaya folded her fingers closed and held them fast. They stood, captured and restraining, and stared at each other.

“I had wondered if you were truly faster than me,” Kanaya said. “I suppose this means I can add another fact to the rumors about the brigandrifts. Humans are quite slow.”

“Let me go.”

“Admit that I am not a mindless killer.”

“I will do no such thing. You have nearly broken my wrists and are holding me captive.”

“But I am not killing you.”

“I have a hard time believing you’re anything but a step away from doing so.”

She stared, brows drawn tight together, and did not move. “And what will you do if I let you go?”

Another scoff. “You won’t.”

A pause. Very slowly, she began to loosen her grip. The shock that flickered over Rose’s face, that shone in her eyes as she looked from hand to hand, was satisfying. The confusion that settled on her brows when she let go her hands entirely was perfect, and she took a step backward to let it sink in.

“Now,” she said quietly, “what are you going to do, oh good and pure rational human?”

Her fingers turned immediately and took back the Thorns. She did not move beyond that for a long while. She breathed slowly. Eventually, she looked away and brought one foot back. “You’ve honored our bargain. I’m going to take my things and leave without causing a ruckus.”

It was tiny sparks at the tips of the Thorns that made the both of them react. Kanaya stared, stepping back as Rose lifted the needles to look at them. In a heartbeat, the sparks became winding snakes of green lightning, hissing and lashing down to strike at Rose’s arms. The sleeves of her coat and her shirt snapped into flames at the heat of the energy, and she swore aloud as she slapped the needles against her arms. The flaming cloth vanished in puffs of smoke and ash, leaving charred edges at her elbows. A wave of her hand made the needles disappear, and she wrenched her coat and bag from her and cast them to the floor.

Outside, a deep rumble preceded the crack-flash of lightning. The green color that poured through the shutters made Kanaya turn, but the sound of wood rent asunder made her turn back faster. She caught sight of Rose bolting away, barefoot and clutching the Thorns in her steaming hands. Her only thought was to follow, and she caught up her skirt to run. Trolls, wide awake and already carousing in the saloon, jumped up from their chairs at the sight of Rose bursting into the room. When she charged behind the bar, needles reaching out to fire surges of lightning at the gun cabinet, they cried aloud in confusion and fury.

The rumble outside had been growing, and suddenly became a roar to drown out any shouting. Rose, armed with her guns, was allowed to pass by virtue of the distraction, dodging between trolls and lusii and tables and slamming her shoulder against the swinging doors, and Kanaya was afforded the same opportunity by running as quickly as she could. When she reached the outside world, she was forced to plant her feet firmly against the howling wind that threw the dust of the main road high in the air.

The great wind soon ripped all the dust from sight, letting her see Rose pelting up the road. In the distance, beyond the flapping white of her untucked shirt, there was a thin black form lumbering forward. The moons above were full, the glow of purple and green blending to make the world bright. With that light, she could see the form resolving into shapes. What she had mistaken for long horns were revealed to be upswept ears. A long muzzle showed against the narrow neck, and claws that could have been made from glistening obsidian capped the fingers.

Rose skid to a halt, lifting the gun she had not stuck hastily in her belt. The tip of the needle met the end of the barrel, and when she fired the lightning rode with the bullet. Four shots were cracked off, and each bullet found the face of the creature. Massive explosions of green starlight made the creature rock back, but only slightly. When the smoke cleared, its maw had opened. Long white fangs shone bright. It lifted its head; its chest swelled; it let out a roar of pure sensation that rattled the buildings and battered Kanaya’s chest.

The speed Rose had was just enough to let her drop down and stab the needles into the ground. With a flash, a thick wall of stone surged up to protect her from the roar, and she flicked the needles again. Shining metal broke from the ground and formed into bullets that flowed into the gun. Rising to her feet, bringing both guns to bear, the Thorns spat lightning and let the wall collapse.

The creature was already there. It backhanded her, throwing her far through the air to crash upon the ground. With Rose so close then, Kanaya could see the three gashes rent on her face and the bright red blood flowing from them. There was no hesitation in Rose regaining her footing, and she fired both guns in a flurry of screaming lightning. When the bullets struck, the lightning expanded and caught every inch of the creature in its grasp. It shuddered and jerked and seized in the electricity, and when it tilted its head back to roar, a shrieking, echoing howl made its way through the fangs.

It bent in upon itself and wrenched upright, flinging its arms out. The latticed green broke apart, and it howled as it looked at Rose. Rose, standing tall with red staining the white shirt and speckling the blue jeans. Rose, Thorns bringing back ammunition to her guns and letting the lightning wind around the chambers. And then it looked away from her and began to laugh.

Kanaya turned to follow its gaze and found her eyes looking at the trolls that stood in shock in the street. They stood by their lusii, multitude of weapons drawn but hanging useless in their hands. There was no comprehension on their faces. When she looked back to the creature, she heard it laughing. She saw it begin its charge.

Rose did not expect it, and so she did not know to chase him until he had ripped the head of the nearest troll off its neck and bitten the face off its lusus. There was no way to fire accurately while running, and so she did her best to move quickly as she shot round after round. The Thorns constantly replenished her bullets, and each shot brought with it a new effect. One would explode, another would bind the creature’s legs with expanding metal, and yet another would make electricity dance along its spine. None of the shots made him stop in his slaughter, and soon trolls began to run screaming into the desert and the forest. The lusii tried to give them some time, but their blood, the same vast rainbow of their wards, painted the town.

The creature looked at her. It looked at Kanaya and smiled as widely as its mouth would stretch. Her chainsaw was still inside. Her legs pushed her back through the doors without her mind’s consent, and she crashed into chairs until her thought caught up with her muscles. She dove behind the bar and snatched up the weapon and felt the explosion of wood before she heard it. The creature snarled its wild laughter, throwing aside tables as it drew closer. The first pull on the starter brought the chainsaw to life, and she scrambled to her feet revving the engine.

A black sword slammed down against the chainsaw, wedging in its teeth and stopping it instantly. The creature pressed forward, snapping at her face with its long teeth. She held it back, but her arms could not press forward. Teeth grit, she made her move. The creature was allowed to complete its strike as she stepped aside and let the sword drive down the chainsaw. Carrying the momentum, she began to turn on her heels and swing the chainsaw up and around.

The sound of wings flapping and claws snapping and guns firing deafened her as a weight flew into her chest. She was knocked from her feet and crashed back against the wall. Bottles leaped from their shelves and fell around her, shattering loudly while the chainsaw stuttered into an idle rumble. Though she grabbed hold of it once more, her shoulders were shaken fiercely.

“We’re leaving!” Karkat shouted in her ear. “Right the fuck now! Out out out!” He hauled her to her feet, dragging her along as he bolted. The floor was littered with broken wood, and they had to clamber through the hole that had been ripped in one wall. A sound reached her ears, and Kanaya looked back.

It was a pair of screams that made her turn. The shriek of Karkat’s lusus, that scratchy squawk that only the crab throat could release, could have been familiar were it not for the note of pain that made something rattle within her ears. He had been cut from shoulder to legs, and fell in two pieces. The second scream was one she had never heard before, and it was only because she looked that she understood its source. Her lusus had been ripped into by the creature’s bare hands. Her jade blood splattered across it, her face twisted in the scream. Her and Karkat’s lusus hit the floor, and Kanaya broke free of Karkat’s weakened grasp to charge back with a scream of her own.

The creature caught her by the throat as she tried to saw him in half. It lifted her from her feet, smearing the blood of her lusus on her neck as she struggled to pry its fingers open. With a snarl, it turned and threw her away. She crashed into something that let out a choked cough, and it was some time before they hit the ground. Rose pushed her off and stumbled forward to stand between her and the creature. Panting, bleeding then from her side, she had abandoned the guns and held naught but the Thorns in her hands.

When the creature leaped forward and swung the sword down at her head, Rose brought the Thorns up and caught the blade in the cross she made of them. The green lightning surged then, snapping against both creature and human. Beneath Rose’s feet, the ground cracked. Her knees trembled. She let out a wordless shout, spat in the creature’s face, and held him where he stood.

Beyond the crackling of the lightning came a sound that only Kanaya seemed to notice. She turned and saw, clear with the moonlight, a wide cloud of dust drawing closer. As the sound grew louder, she recognized it: the throaty call of an engine at full power. The engine drew nearer, and as it did the shape of it became clear. It was a two-wheeled device powered by an engine, speeding across the desert in sleek black glory. It carried a rider dressed in an immaculate red suit and black sunglasses. In one pale hand was a broadsword covered in dancing green lines, and when the rider came close enough, Kanaya could see his white-blonde hair whipping about in the wind.

The creature dodged back when she drove the chainsaw at its stomach, and came directly into the path of the swordsman rider. Their swords clashed, and the creature was thrown backward by the force of the blow. The wheels spat up dirt as the rider spun the device in a tight circle and came to a stop. A kickstand was snapped into place, and the rider dismounted and put the sword on his shoulder. He adjusted the sunglasses on his nose and looked at Rose with a straight face.

“Spiffy rags you got nowadays, sis,” he said.

“A pleasure to see you, brother,” she replied. “Excellent timing, as always.”

“Gotta save the blood relatives. Glad I got my iron through that fuckin’ desert all right.” His head tilted down. “Who’s the swanky dame?”

Rose did not look at Kanaya, eyes on the ground. “She got caught up in this, unfortunately.”

He put one hand in his pocket and turned toward the creature. It stood snarling, white eyes narrow. “Guess we best get her uncaught.” He reached inside his jacket to draw out a pistol. “Ain’t gonna burn powder?”

“It hasn’t been entirely effective.”

“How ‘bout that.” He returned the gun to its holster and lifted the sword from his shoulder. “All right. Let’s knock the fucker off the old fashioned way.”

She tightened her grip on the Thorns. “Gladly.”

The creature stared at them for a time as they began to advance. Its snarling ceased and became laughter. The sword disappeared in a burst of lightning.

Rose and the man both started.

It lifted its arms and began to laugh louder.

They both began to run, weapons rising.

In the end, they struck nothing. The creature had vanished in a crack of sound and green light. The man managed to stop himself, but Rose stumbled and hit the ground on hands and knees.

“Son of a bitch dusted on us again,” the man said.

She turned over to sit properly, putting a hand on her bloody side. “He never _teleported away_ before, Dave.” She grimaced. “Only Bec did that.”

He grunted. “So what’s his grift?”

“If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say our little homunculus is evolving.”

He made no sound of reply. He tossed the sword into the air with a spin and it vanished without flourish. After a moment, he held his hand out to Rose. When she took it, he pulled her to her feet. Though he opened his mouth to speak, gray hands grabbed his lapels and shook him furiously.

“What the _fuck_ did you bring here?” Karkat shouted. “What in Gog’s name was that thing?”

Dave lifted a brow over the barrier of his shades. “Get your fuckin’ mitts off me, rag-a-muffin.”

“You fucking tell me what the hell just killed my lusus before I smash those stupid glasses into your eyes!”

“That was Jack Noir,” Rose said quietly. “We created him by accident, and we’ve been tracking him.” She wiped at the blood on her chin and winced at the way her hand pulled at the wounds on her face. “I didn’t expect him to come rampaging through a town like that.”

Karkat let go of Dave to grab Rose’s shirt and shake her even harder than her brother. “That grubfucker _followed_ you here, witch-bitch! You’re the reason my lusus is dead and my moirail nearly got her head cut off!”

She frowned and reached out to take hold of his shirt and shake him just as fiercely. “I did not mean for her to get dragged into this! I meant to leave without causing any trouble!”

He shoved her away, throwing his hands in the air. “Well you _really_ fucked that up! Good job, witch-bitch fake alchemist! You managed to get most of a whole town slaughtered in ten minutes because you didn’t keep your alien ass the fuck out!”

“Do you honestly believe I wanted to call Noir down on your heads?” She gestured at nothing, blood smeared on her palm. “ _I_ want to kill _him_! I have no reason to bring anyone unconnected to the matter into this fight!”

Karkat stared at her, eyes suddenly recognizing the color of the blood flowing from her wounds. He opened his mouth; he closed it. He swallowed and jabbed a finger in her face. “That’s too fucking bad, because now you’ve dragged me into all this. You tell me how to murder his ass before I get my sickles and go to town on _yours_.”

Dave, taller than any of them, took hold of the back of his shirt, pulling him backward and hoisting him up so he stood awkwardly on his toes. He leaned close, and Karkat could not see his eyes through the dark lenses. “I got a better idea, bo. You break it up with my sis and close your fuckin’ head, and I won’t start playin’ the full orchestra of chin music on you.”

“What the _shit_ are you saying?”

He tilted his head forward and let the glasses slide to the end of his nose. The irises within the pure white were a bright bloody red, and Karkat stopped breathing at the sight of them. “I’m sayin’ you shut that mouth full of saw teeth before I bust your jaw.”

“Dave, that’s more than enough,” Rose said. “We don’t need to exacerbate his condition.”

He jerked away from Dave, spinning to look at her. “My _condition_? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Understand that I mean this with every ounce of sincerity I have,” she said. “I am sorry that your lusus was killed, I truly am. But Noir cannot be defeated by anything but alchemy, and you are incapable of performing it. You have to leave him to us.”

Karkat spat out laughter. “Yeah, leave him to you! I guess you human-alien things just start spontaneously spraying blood everywhere when you’re winning a fight!” He took in a deep breath to continue, but stopped when a hand came down gently on his shoulder. When he looked back and saw Kanaya, he slowly closed his mouth.

She strode past him, moving to stand between him and the two humans. Though she met Dave’s missing gaze a moment, she looked at Rose. There were the beginnings of scabs on her face, and she could spot tiny pinpricks of wounds on her feet when she glanced down. The white shirt was perfectly ruined, the jeans irreversibly stained, and the first honest expression Kanaya had seen on her was settled miserably on her face. She was utterly contrite.

“I apologize,” she said. She returned her hand to her side, and Kanaya could see the red blood smeared on the Thorns in her fingers. “If you’ll allow me the small time I need to attend to my wounds, I’ll be on my way.”

Blinking once, Kanaya nodded in silence and tightened her grip on Karkat’s shoulder when he made to rain down protests. Rose walked by them, picking her way through the detritus and pools of slurried rainbow blood to return to the broken building Kanaya had once called hers. After she had disappeared into the hostelry, Karkat gave a low growl and tried to follow, but Kanaya forced him to stand his ground and went in his stead; Dave did not try to stop her.

The chainsaw had long since died in her hand, and it was with the quiet that death afforded her that she was able to enter without being noticed. Rose stood with her forehead pressed to that of a hoofbeast. The white hair of its mane blended perfectly with its pale body, and Rose’s hair matched well. She held the hoofbeast’s face in one hand, breathing slowly.

“You are an incredible coward,” she said.

The hoofbeast nickered and pushed at her.

“That was meant as a compliment.” She took her head back and reached up to stroke the creature’s mane. “If you didn’t run away at the first sign of danger like you do, I’d have been less one horse before Noir even came along.” With a small sigh, she fiddled with one tall ear. “We have to start moving again. I’m sorry it’s so soon.”

“So you do intend to leave.”

Rose turned neither swiftly nor slowly, letting her head tilt to rest on the hoofbeast’s face when she saw Kanaya standing in the ruined entrance. “I apologize specifically for your inn, now. I’ll get Maplehoof outside.” She took hold of the reins that hung from the hoofbeast’s neck, but grimaced when her grip was pulled against. Maplehoof bucked slightly and pulled the reins completely from her hand, whinnying loudly. When gray hands snapped closed over the reins, though, the hoofbeast could not canter away or pull free.

“Calm down,” Kanaya murmured. She held the reins carefully, giving only enough slack to let the creature settle. “I wouldn’t have thought you humans would be under the care of a lusus, though I suppose it makes sense that you’re having such a hard time controlling it.”

“Maplehoof isn’t a lusus,” Rose said. “She’s just a horse.”

“That’s a peculiar name for a hoofbeast.”

“It isn’t for a horse.”

Kanaya sighed, shaking her head slightly.

“Why did you come in here?” Rose asked. “I’ve told you more than once that I’m going to leave. I’m not going to linger.”

“How far, exactly, do you believe you’ll be able to go?”

“Excuse me?”

“That wound in your side doesn’t seem particularly dangerous, but you only managed to survive because the other human arrived.”

“That is an assumption. I can handle this on my own.”

“Forgetting for a moment that you are, in fact, an alien who can control science advanced enough to be mistaken for magic, you are bleeding a color that does not exist on the hemospectrum. My moirail bleeds the same color, and he has been running all his life to keep from being culled. Mine _was_ the only safe place for him to heal when he’s injured. Now that this monster has destroyed all of that, where do you think you’re going to go?”

“I just said that I can handle this on my own.”

“And I find myself severely doubting that.”

Rose stared at her, eyes narrow, and eventually let out a long sigh. “What do you want?”

“It’s far less about what I want than about what _you_ happen to _need_ , Miss Lalonde.”

“ _And_?”

“I will be accompanying you from now on.” She held up her free hand at the sight of Rose’s mouth falling open. “Karkat was correct. Willingly or not, you have entangled us in this problem of yours and we have a personal stake in the matter. Your Jack Noir murdered my lusus and destroyed my livelihood. Either I will see him die, or I will have a part in taking his life.”

“That doesn’t say anything about what I need.”

“You need an ally who can easily obtain information. One who can help you move about without as much suspicion as you would garner alone. One who can distract attention from your alien nature and mutant blood.”

She smiled by way of a strained grimace. “Your flattery shines brighter than the stars themselves, Miss Maryam.” She took her hand from her side and turned the Thorns about in her bloody fingers. A tap to the shredded flesh made lightning arc, and the flash faded to reveal white skin stretched anew across the divide. She repeated the process with the wounds on her face, wincing at the sparks. With no sleeves to speak of, she had nothing but her bare arms to try and wipe away the lingering blood. She coughed, eyes closing tight, and dismissed the needles.

“Well?”

“Seeing as how my alchemy only extends to repairing the immediate damage and cannot regenerate lost blood or wasted energy, I’d say you could very easily kill me where I stand.”

“And do you believe I, a troll, will take advantage of that?”

She hummed. “No. I suppose I don’t.”

“Then tell me your answer.”

“All right.” She reached out a hand. “I accept your offer of alliance as begrudgingly as you give it, Miss Maryam.”

Pausing, sighing quietly, she took her hand. Closing her eyes, she lifted Rose’s hand and brushed her lips across her knuckles. When she lifted her head and found her eyes once more, she pressed her hand gently forward. A pause came paired with blinking violet eyes, and the gesture was hesitantly returned. She felt warm, warm breath on her hand, and held her gaze calmly when she looked up.

“Accepted. Rose.”

A very small smile. “Kanaya.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was a point about halfway through the chapter where I was a tad stymied. I'd done some edits and rewrites, and I had to make it to the scene I expected to end the chapter.
> 
> But I was screaming at my computer, "Shut up! You flighty broads, shut up and get into the action!" Eventually, they deigned to do so.
> 
> And then they went _right back to talking_ for almost five more pages.
> 
> This is probably good, looking back.
> 
> Also, every last thing about Dave slays me.


	3. A Bag of Many Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The reading for this chapter.](http://tindeck.com/listen/onvf)

Kanaya had made vague plans as she staked her claim in Rose’s leaving, had intended to make them move out before the dawn broke. Rose, though, had stumbled away slowly after shaking her hand with a quiet statement regarding her desire to sit down a moment. She went, feet dragging, until she slumped on the one remaining stool before the ruined bar. Her head dropped with the same drunken shaking that Karkat’s had taken on what seemed ages ago, and she was unconscious and unmovable no matter how Kanaya shook her.

“Alchemy gives you the bum’s rush plenty fast.”

She turned and saw Dave stepping in over the broken piles of wood. A cigarette, crumpled and mashed and half dead, hung trailing white-gray smoke from his lips. With his hands in his pockets, he walked to stand at Rose’s other side and leaned against the bar.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Bum’s rush, dollface.” He ashed the cigarette before taking a long drag. “Tuckers you out. Takes your gams right out from under you and lays you flat.”

“You...have a very peculiar vocabulary. Is this common parlance for humans?”

He looked at her from behind his sunglasses, breathing in the smoke slowly. “Goddamn, you and sis go perfect together. D’you eat a dictionary or somethin’ when you were a grub?”

“Our word choices aside, what is wrong with her?”

“Tired out, dollface.” He ashed the cigarette again, holding it between his fingers a moment. “Do that much and it’ll put anyone out in a minute.”

“She lost hardly any blood.”

A thin brow rose over the top of the sunglasses. “Y’know, I forgot that trolls can take a beatin’.” He took a long enough drag to finish the cigarette and dropped it to the floor, where his heel waited to crush it. “First lesson about us humans, dollface—”

“My name is Kanaya Maryam. Feel free to use it.”

“Yeah, Dave Strider, how y’doin’. First lesson. Us alchemists, we’re a cut above those rubes back home, but we’re not monsters like you guys. My sis took a beatin’ that’d kill a regular human, and she did it all while burnin’ powder and layin’ into Noir with her needle-wands. She’s gonna be tired.” He paused to rummage in the pockets of his coat, and drew out another cigarette and a lighter. For a moment, he played with the lighter, flicking it open and closed with loud clicks. Eventually, he sparked the flame into life, holding it to the cigarette’s tip and breathing deep to catch the fire.

“But we ain’t really got the time for her to bunk. So,” he said as he exhaled, “second lesson for you, my sis is a fuckin’ sourpuss when you make her wake up too soon.” He leaned down to take hold of a leg of the stool. “Here, watch.”

Before Kanaya could think to protest, he jerked the chair out from under Rose. Though she finally woke up with the falling, she could not react quickly enough to catch herself on the bar. She hit the ground in the midst of flailing and let out a grunt of pain for it. Slowly, sighing loudly, she drew up her legs, put her forehead to her knees, and folded her arms over her neck.

“Strider, would that you could spare me but _ten minutes_ of rest, my eternal gratitude would be yours.”

“Chatty sourpuss this time. Usually you just take a swing at me.”

“What do you want, brother?”

“We need to dust out, sis.”

“I am not riding with you. We’ve discussed this in the past. Maplehoof cannot keep pace with your motorcycle, and I cannot stand your snoring during the night.”

“No, we do it all normal—me one way, and you and your dame the other way.”

“My—” She looked up and blinked. “Ah.” With another sigh, she began to stand. “Have you ever ridden, Kanaya?”

“On a hoofbeast?” After glancing at Maplehoof, wandering toward outside, she shook her head. “No, for the most part, I traveled with my lusus. We never went particularly far.”

“Then it’s firsts all around.” She stretched her legs one at a time, curling one set of toes tight before switching to the other leg. She started away, rubbing her face as she went. Dave and Kanaya followed her, and she led them roundabout to room four. It was fairly pristine, given the state of the rest of the building: the ceiling and three walls were intact. The fourth had been broken, leaving it and its shattered beams and boards exposed to the sandy gusts of wind.

Rose looked over the debris until she spotted the scorched sleeve of her coat. She knelt on one knee, taking hold of a needle and tapping it against the boards burying it. With each tap, the board touched dissolved into sawdust easily swept aside, and Rose’s coat, hat, and bag were retrieved from the floor. She clapped them clean, taking particular care to reform the crushed places in her hat before putting it on her head.

“Brother?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you happen to need any repairs to your bag while I’m around?”

“Nah. Still hittin’ on all eight. You made ‘em good, sis.”

“Good.” She opened the bag and reached inside. Kanaya’s brows shot up when Rose’s arm vanished past the elbow. The bag’s edges bumped up against her shoulder, and it shook slightly with her searching. Soon enough, she brought back her arm and took out the boots she had worn when she arrived. “Is there anything you need to bring with us, Kanaya?”

She stared, eyes wide. “What is that bag?”

“Jade calls ‘em ‘bags of many things,’” Dave said. “Cute moniker, I guess.”

“They’re my personal design,” Rose said. She set the bag down, bending to pull on her boots. “It’s too inconvenient to deal with regular satchels with all our traveling. These bags contain an extra-dimensional space that more or less breaks down the objects we put into it until we need to take them back out. So far, we haven’t found many things we can’t fit in there. Dave’s motorcycle is one. Maplehoof is another.”

“And it has no limits on its capacity?”

“My sis has a library fulla books in there, last I checked,” Dave said. “I got a ton of shit in mine. Plenty of chow, the tent I sleep in, clothes.” He shrugged. “Useful.”

Kanaya pursed her lips, drawing their corners into her cheeks, and put her hand to her forehead. “If you’re attempting to make me recant my alliance with you by being more bizarre by the minute, you won’t be successful.”

Rose repaired her shirt and coat with flicks of her needles, brows rising slightly in a regretful expression. “How unfortunate. I’d hoped our sheer lunacy would drive you off screaming into the night and leave me alone to complete my vengeance upon Jack Noir.”

She crossed her arms, but blinked slowly. “And...your excessive snark will not aid in your efforts.”

“Very well.” She pulled on her coat, adjusting the lapels after dismissing the needles. As she picked up the bag, she said, “Now, is there really anything in particular that you need to bring with us? Your chainsaw, I safely assume.”

“Yes.” She glanced to the floor. “And I would request that we add some of my own clothing to your bag.”

“Anything to please the fashionable troll.” She looked at Kanaya’s skirt suddenly, at her shoes that had once been polished. Both were now scuffed, torn, and splattered with blood. “Given that you’ve never traveled long distance, I doubt you possess clothing suited for it. Shall I alchemize something for you?”

“And what is this something?”

“She’s sayin’ you need pants, dollface,” Dave said. “Pants and proper shoes. You can’t go ridin’ around on a horse wearin’ skirts like you, even if they’re pretty ones.”

Rose sighed, massaging her forehead. “Dave, it is perfectly reasonable to ride sidesaddle in a dress. I would just have to adjust the fit and give her shoes that will be comfortable over long distances.”

“Sidesaddle ain’t proper ridin’. Can’t get any sort of speed.”

“Not everyone is as obsessed with high-speed movement as you, brother dear. You can stop projecting about your efforts to become your elder brother.”

He sighed, tilting his head to one side and waving a hand in the air. “And here we go with the head doctor routine. Look, I ain’t gonna hang around here much longer. You two broads go ahead and keep bumpin’ gums, but I’m gonna blow. You really need me, you go ahead and burn me up a letter.” With a wave in parting, he strode out of the room. The roar of the motorcycle’s engine spitting to life overpowered any whistles of the wind, but it faded within them as distance was crossed.

“My brother,” Rose said. “An exemplar of humanity, to be certain.”

“What exactly did he mean by ‘bumping gums?’” She shifted, brows knitted. “It sounds...indecent, somehow.”

“Kanaya, that was Dave restraining himself from vulgarity. You should be grateful. All it means is to talk meaninglessly, which is what he feels about most of my conversations with anyone.”

“Oh.” She glanced outside, studying the darkness. “I think we had better leave before much time passes. It’s easier to travel at night.”

“I am so well aware of that it’s not humorous in the slightest. Let’s try to be off, then.” She hitched the bag on one shoulder. “Lead away to your chambers, milady.”

She did so after a pause, the duo continuing down the hallway and rounding one corner. Though she had locked her door as fastidiously as always before confronting Rose, the door had cracked in half with the ruckus, and was pushed open with little effort. The half not held up by the hinges tumbled into the room with a loud clatter, and the hinges squealed at the indignity of moving.

Kanaya entered; Rose did not. When Kanaya looked at her with a raised brow, she shrugged. “It’s indecent to enter a lady’s room sans her permission.”

“At this point, permission is implicit between us. You can come in.”

“Very well. Point out whatever you’d like to bring.”

For a moment, it appeared as though she would, walking rather purposefully to a bookcase built into a far wall. When she touched a book, however, she stopped. She seemed to stop breathing, the well-kept yellow nails on her fingers resting on the book’s spine. The moment passed when Rose took a step and made her boot sound off on the floor. Kanaya plucked the book from the shelf and passed it to Rose’s waiting hand. Satisfied with the book disappearing without altering the bag’s visible mass, she took many more from the shelves and handed them over silently.

“I was aware that there were a great many books in circulation here on Alternia, but I’d not met a troll with such a collection before you.”

“Was literature lacking on your planet?”

“Far from it. I’ll have to let you read something from Earth. Then I’ll read something Alternian and we can trade notes.”

“You take notes while reading?”

“That was a joke.”

A pause. “Oh.”

“John and Jade have informed me that my sarcastic wit is often misinterpreted as pure sarcasm, so you’re not alone. Anything el—”

“What in the flying fuck _are you still doing here_?”

Rose made to turn, but the back of her coat was snatched and she was wrenched back. Karkat pulled her from the room entirely, slamming her against the opposite wall. Though he was shorter than Kanaya, barely taller than her, he was still more than able to hold her off her feet when he stepped close, and he wound the fabric of her shirt and coat around his hands to draw it painfully tight around her throat.

“You said you would leave if we gave you some time,” he snarled. “That shitstain that came with you left, so I thought you’d be gone by now.” He shook her, growling between his fangs. “Why the fuck are you hanging out by Kanaya’s room?”

“Karkat, wait!”

He whipped his head about, but only tightened his grip further. “What’s she doing here? Why haven’t you chopped her fucking head off?”

Rose spoke in a choked grumble, eyes pinched shut and one leg kicking feebly. “It would—would be discourteous to cut off the head of— _nngh_ —your traveling partner before you even s-set out. Kanaya is proving _kkk_ herself to have a modicum of de—cen— _cy_.”

“Wha— _traveling partner_? Kanaya, what the shit is she talking about?”

“Karkat, let her _down_! I doubt blue is a natural color for a human’s face!”

He sneered, eyes widening in fury. Slowly, he narrowed his eyes, growling low in his throat, and let go of Rose’s shirt. With a deep wheezing gasp, she dropped to the floor. Curling up, she coughed into her legs and put her hands to her throat.

Mouth still pulled in a sneer, he turned to face her properly. “What. Is she. Doing here.”

“I am going to travel with her on her journey to find the demon.”

“Since fucking _when_?” he shouted. “No one said you had to go anywhere with the witch-bitch! If _she_ said that, then we’re fucking done with her!” He spun about and crouched in one fluid rush, but he was halted by the barrel of a gun pressed to his forehead and the tip of a needle in the hollow of his throat.

“I am not forcing her to come with me,” Rose said. She did not lift her head, and her face remained hidden by her hat. “She insisted on accompanying me.” She brought up the needle, pushing at his chin to make him lean back. “I am growing exceedingly tired of being manhandled by monsters and trolls, so I will lay down one rule before we leave.” With her breathing returned to normal, she lifted her head and glared at Karkat. “ _You_ will never lay your hands upon my person again. If you do, then I will _undo_ every chemical binding that constitutes your veins and leave you to die of internal hemorrhaging. Do you understand me, Karkat?”

“It’s _Vantas_ to you, witch-bitch.”

She dug the needle in to draw a bead of blood. “Then, Mister Vantas, do you understand what will happen if you attack me again?”

He bared his teeth and lifted his hands. “Nothing that compares to what’ll happen if you fuck with my moirail anymore.”

In a heartbeat, they were separated. Rose’s gun and needle had been gathered up by one hand, and Karkat had been pulled away by its twin, tossed against the other side of the hallway. Kanaya stood between them, frowning with her brows drawn low. With a sigh through her nose, she knelt down; she gave Rose back her things.

Karkat shouted and flailed a moment, aiming a kick at Rose’s leg from where he sat. She reacted in time to jam her foot up against his, their heels stymieing each other. They grappled a moment, but Kanaya slapped both of their legs. “What the _fuck_ , Maryam?”

“That is more than enough! You’re acting like tiny wrigglers with ridiculous black crushes!”

Red suffused the gray of Karkat’s face, brought out by the apoplectic rage that made his voice crack when he screamed, “I do _not_ have a black crush on this flighty witch-bitch!”

“Regardless of that, you are not listening to what’s been said. I am the one who founded this alliance. Rose has not forced me into anything.”

“You’re not going anywhere with the freak brigandrift that got your lusus killed!

“I am if she’s going to find the creature responsible. You cannot change my mind about this, Karkat.”

“So you’re just going to tell your moirail to fuck off so you can go have some crazy adventure?” He sat up to grab hold of her arm. “How fucking many times do I have to tell you that it’s _not fun_? It’s not fun to have an ‘adventure’ on Alternia—not if you’re sane. You are one of the _only_ Gog damn sane trolls I know, and you’re my fucking moirail. It’s my job to make sure you don’t go completely shithive maggots over nothing!”

“This isn’t ‘nothing,’ Karkat. I haven’t lost my mind, and this is about vengeance. If this isn’t the proper course to take, then I’m afraid you’ll have to tell me what is.”

He faltered, and shook her arm to cover for it. After a moment, he swallowed and was able to speak. “Look. Yeah, going and murdering the demon is the right thing to do—but _not with her_.”

“Why not with me?” Rose asked.

When he looked at her, his sneer returned at redoubled strength, and his eyes were blazing. “Because you’re a fucking freak brigandrift bulge-sucking witch-bitch who’d sooner _eat_ her than let her help you murder the fucking demon you _made_!”

She sighed quietly, rolling her eyes. “Humans don’t eat trolls. We barely have the teeth required to properly tear apart animal meat, much less break down the tough muscle your species possesses.”

“What the fuck you’ve _tried_ eating troll?”

She met his sneer with one of her own. “ _No_ , you idiot.”

Kanaya put her hands in her face. “The both of you need to stop. Immediately.”

“You’re not going with her.”

“Karkat, that is not your decision to make. It’s mine, and I have taken your opinion into consideration. This is what I’m going to do.”

“But—” He stumbled on words. He grit his teeth; he shook his head. “I can’t let you go running off like that.”

“And I never could reasonably _let_ you leave my care when you could be culled at any time,” said Kanaya. “But it’s what I have to let you do every time.” She pulled her arm free enough to take his hand. “You must let me leave.”

“But...but I can’t go with you.” He ground his teeth together so fiercely that their creaking was audible. “If I go and something happens where my freak mutant blood gets spilled, then you’ve just got another problem on your hands. Because then what if _her_ freak mutant blood gets spilled, too?”

She smiled. “While I’m happy that you recognize our need to travel on our own, I will tell you not to consider yourself a problem. Think of it as maximizing precaution.”

His teeth-grinding faded, but was immediately replaced by lip-biting. He let out a groan of a sigh, holding tight to her hand. A long time of silence passed. When it died, it was because of Karkat swallowing. “Hey...Kanaya?”

“Yes?”

“We’re—we’re, um...we’re still—we’re still friends, right? Moirails?”

Kanaya chuckled. She reached to pat his head with her free hand. “Yes, Karkat. We’re still moirails. I’m quite used to your angry ranting. Don’t worry.”

A pause. “Okay.”

Another silence was allowed to pass, and its death was not a violent one. Rose spoke softly to say, “I think we all need to leave soon. The longer we linger, the longer the survivors have to spread rumors about Noir and myself.” She took a quiet breath. “I would rather not get you two in greater trouble for that.”

Karkat slipped his hand free of Kanaya’s, turning it to jab his pointer finger at Rose. “Look, witch-bitch.”

“Lalonde, Vantas.”

He growled, rolling his eyes. “ _Fine_. You know what I’ll do if my moirail gets hurt because of you. I mean, even a broken nail. She fucking hates broken nails, okay? You break even one nail, and it’s your neck I’m putting my sickle in. Get it?”

She lifted one hand, putting the other on her chest. “Down to her pretty nails, yes. I intend to make sure she doesn’t get hurt.”

After a moment, he blinked. He dropped his hand to pat at his knee. He flicked his eyes up to Kanaya. “It pisses me off that I don’t know where the fuck you’re going to go.”

With a small wince, Rose pushed herself into a proper sitting position. “I think—” She reached her arm into her bag. “I have a solution to that for you.”

“Whoa hold it, what the fuck are you pulling out of that thing?”

“It’s not a weapon, you paranoid buffoon.” She withdrew a thick notebook, setting aside her bag and putting the book in her lap. “Kanaya, do you recall what Dave said to me before he left? About letters?”

“He said to burn him a letter if you needed him. Was that another of your strange human idioms?”

“No, that was entirely literal.” She opened the notebook, smoothing down the first page. “These were Jade’s idea. She hated the idea of us going in so many different directions on such a large planet. Of course, there was no way for us to be able to send letters. Thus, she alchemized four notebooks that are connected to each other. If we want to contact each other, we write our messages on the pages, tear them from the notebook, and set them on fire. They appear in the notebook of whoever we want to talk to, and they can send us a reply in turn. It’s how Dave knew to be here: I told him that I was following a lead here.”

Karkat jumped back when she turned her fingers and took hold of one of the Thorns. Ignoring him, she tapped the notebook. When the green flash faded, a duplicate sat atop the original, and she held it out to him. “You can use this in the same manner to contact us. I check it regularly, so there shouldn’t be too long of a delay between your sending us a message and our reply.”

He stared, eyes jumping between the notebook and Rose’s face. Eventually, he snatched it away. Straightening his legs, he held the book at arm’s length and squinted at it. He opened his mouth.

“No, I have not placed a curse upon the book, nor have I booby-trapped it to explode if you write in it.”

“You just have a guilty fucking conscience!”

“If I ever deigned to allow my conscience to feel guilt over the sarcastic things I say, I would have imploded from the sheer mass by now.”

Kanaya failed to bite down on a giggle. Karkat barely managed to keep from throwing the notebook back at Rose’s head.

\-------

There were still some hours left in the night when they parted ways. Karkat glared at them, sitting together on Maplehoof’s saddle, for a long time. He clutched the notebook under one arm, his bag on his back. It was he who turned away first, aimed toward the north and the long edge of the forest that led on. He glanced back only once to give Kanaya a wave and Rose a sneer, and strode away with clouds of dust jumping up at the heels of his stomping feet.

Sighing, Rose gently snapped the reins and tapped her heels against Maplehoof. The horse nickered, dancing in place a moment before beginning to trot. It was into the forest they went, into the vague direction of west. Kanaya sat sidesaddle behind her, one hand barely in its proper place on Rose’s side. The other remained in her own lap, clenching and unclenching at the more sudden steps Maplehoof made. At the first felled tree that the horse jumped, though, she grabbed at Rose, holding tight for terror of tipping off.

She pulled on the reins piecemeal, guiding Maplehoof away from the larger roots and branches. When she spoke, her voice was strained. “I’ll try to keep her from doing that from now on.”

“Oh.” She took her hands from Rose’s sides quickly, returning one to her lap and moving the other to Rose’s hip. “Apologies.”

“They’re accepted, but it’s all right.” A click of the tongue made Maplehoof’s pace drop slightly from its trot. “Given how my wounds were so easily closed with alchemy, it’s understandable that you’d forget I was even hurt.”

She looked down, eyes finding the place where the blood had once shone bright. The fingers of the hand in her lap twitched. “Is it always like that with alchemy?”

“Is what?”

“Fighting, I suppose. And what of the aftermath—taking care of yourself?”

“Well—” She took out a needle to fire lightning at a low branch and reduce it to nothing. “It’s true that we rely on the Green Sun for a great deal of the energy we use. However, we can’t escape the fact that we’re still using our own energy. Using alchemy on our bodies is the worst, though.”

“Why’s that?”

“The body only uses its own energy for healing purposes, for whatever arcane reason. The faster we force it to accommodate our needs, the more it wears on us.”

With the inches she had on Rose, Kanaya was only able to see the brim of her hat, the scarf that hung down her back between them. She let her eyes settle on her shoulders. Stiffness was visible in them, and the twitches of weariness even more so. When Maplehoof jumped over a great broken limb, she did her best to keep her own balance. The success was barely marred by how she held tight to Rose’s hip.

“How well do humans handle,” she asked slowly, “the Alternian sun?”

“Not quite as poorly as most trolls, I think.” She gestured toward the vast canopy above. “That doesn’t mean I’m up to dealing with it right now. We’ll be setting up camp before the dawn, don’t worry.”

“I only asked out of conce—out of curiosity. I’m able to go out during the day.”

“Really? That’s unique.”

“A gift for having jade blood.” She smiled slightly. “I actually enjoy going out, to tell you the truth. Karkat usually tells me off for it if I try to explain how it feels.”

Rose was quiet a moment. “I did enjoy the sun on Earth. All appearances to the contrary.”

“What appearances?”

“Alchemy had the rather charming stigma of being considered heretical witchcraft, and most people assumed I would shun all forms of light.” A shrug. “While I certainly enjoy the more macabre of literature, it never meant I disliked sunlight. Jade liked to alchemize flowers on sunny days. I liked watching, as she’s quite skilled.”

“Humans grow flowers?”

Rose turned slightly, looking over her shoulder. “Why in the world wouldn’t we?”

“Most trolls don’t bother with any sort of aesthetics.” The small smile on her face was colored then with bashfulness and pleasure. “I’m happy to hear that someone other than myself enjoys caring for plant life.”

After a moment, Rose returned the smile with an amused exhale. She turned to face forward. “Then I hope you can meet her one day.”

Kanaya meant to respond. The trembling she felt under her hand was finally noticed, though. She looked at Rose’s shoulders and watched them. There was trembling there, and when she paid attention to the sound beyond Maplehoof’s trotting, she could hear the shakiness in her breathing. Once again, the hand in her lap twitched. She uncurled her fingers, briefly thinking of touching Rose’s shoulder. The thought was shooed away, but the sentiment was carried to her mouth.

“I think we had best stop for now.”

“We’ve barely gotten into the forest.”

“I’ve watched more than enough trolls to know when they’re exhausted, and Strider told me that humans aren’t as hardy as trolls. I won’t be put out if you need to rest.”

It was some time before there was a response, and it came in Maplehoof’s snorting at her reins being pulled straight back. She came to a stop, shaking her head with another chuff of air. Kanaya dismounted first, smoothly sliding off the horse’s back. A moment of hesitation caught her hands, but she did offer one when Rose turned to get down. It was stared at, and taken with as much hesitation as had held her frozen. Her landing was matched with a grimace and a brief tightening of her hand around Kanaya’s. She let go quickly, turning away to gather Maplehoof’s reins.

The horse was led to a tree and tethered loosely to a low branch. She clopped her hooves, making them sound louder and louder until Rose took off her bag and reached inside. A feedbag was found and slipped onto Maplehoof’s head, and the clopping was replaced by faint crunching.

“A greedy thing on top of a coward.” Still, she smiled when she stroked Maplehoof’s ear. “We’ll let you rest properly now.” With a smirk slipping onto her lips, she turned to Kanaya and lifted her bag. “I assume you’ve never camped out?”

“Correct.” She drew close, looking at the bag. “What does it involve?”

“Mostly setting up a tent. Sometimes building a fire, but it’s not really necessary right now.” In the midst of reaching into the bag, she stopped. She sighed, eyes closing. “And I’ve completely forgotten about recuperacoons.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Trolls sleep in recuperacoons. There’s a reason for that. I’ve forgotten what it is, and I forgot to make some kind of allowance about it for you.”

“It’s to help us deal with night horrors.”

“Ah. That was it.”

Kanaya couldn’t help the chuckle that came out of her mouth. “It’s all right. I’m lucky enough to have very, very few night horrors.”

Rose opened her eyes and lifted one brow. “Is this another benefit of having your jade blood?”

“If it is, I’m grateful,” she said. “Now, how does one go about setting up these ‘tents’?”

It was a matter of simple alchemy tricks. A space was cleared out with one shot; the poles and canvas of the tent were set up with another. Rose considered the tent for a heartbeat before tapping it. It grew slightly, making Kanaya skip backward in surprise. The smirk she saw was returned with a frown, but that frown was ignored when Rose bent slightly and slipped inside the tent. Gathering her skirts, still frowning, she followed.

A trio of candles sat in a small cup hanging at the center of the tent, already burning and giving off faint firelight. The flames moved in the air granted by the hole above in the canvas, and Rose sat heavily on the ground with a needle still in hand. As Kanaya sat down near her, tucking her legs beneath her and arranging her long red skirt, she took off her hat, let go of the needle, and rubbed her face.

“What a pathetic image I’m painting for humanity,” she said into her hand. “Having to be taken care of by a troll with an ashen infatuation for me.”

She started, a faint green blush rising in her face. “I beg your pardon?”

“It’s terribly obvious. Even if I didn’t know about the quadrants and their bizarre mechanics, I’d have pegged you as a meddler the moment you asked me for the Thorns instead of kicking me out.”

She sighed, rolling her eyes. “As it stands, I’ve never met a person so in need of an auspistice as you.”

A chuckle. “Once again you display your charming flattery.”

“But I did not come with you to play that part.”

Rose lifted a brow. “Then why, pray tell, did you thrust yourself into my affairs?”

A pause. Kanaya looked away, but made herself meet the gaze seeking her. “Because...you intrigue me. I don’t begrudge you for what happened to my lusus. I know you’re sorry for it, but you’re not responsible. And while I do truly desire to eviscerate Jack Noir, I would like to accompany you and see what you do.”

She blinked slowly. “So. Were you lying to Vantas about this not being adventure seeking?”

“No.”

“I am very skilled in determining if a person is lying to me, and you are an _abominable_ liar.”

She sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. “Very well. Yes, I wanted to go with you because it sounded as though it would be exciting and different. Berate me at will.”

Silence.

“Well?”

Rose snickered.

“What?”

“You’re soliciting punishment from the wrong person. Far be it from me to chastise _anyone_ for wanting some kind of adventure. Why do you think we began studying alchemy in the first place?”

She stared, leaning back slightly. “All of these endeavors were born out of boredom?”

“Idle hands—and curious ones—are the devil’s playthings, after all. It’s what makes us scientists first. Alchemy was simply the most interesting field to enter.”

“Then you allowed me to come with you despite knowing that I had ulterior motives?”

“Correct.”

“Why?”

“Reciprocal curiosity, I suppose.”

Kanaya looked at her. She looked at the dark bags under her eyes, the pallor of her skin, and the tiny smirk on her lips. After a moment, she let out a breath and smiled slightly. “You are a very peculiar person, Rose.”

“Careful. The more you say it, the more it could become your catchphrase.”

“Catchphrase?”

Rose chuckled again. “You’ll have to remind me to teach you our strange human idioms when I’m not about to collapse into sleep.” Eyes half shut, she reached into the bag’s depths again. Two sleeping bundles were tugged from within, one handed off while the other was pushed and shoved into a semblance of useful shape. Removing her boots was almost an afterthought; her coat and scarf she allowed to enfold her in lieu of the cover. She lay on her side, but jerked after a moment. Hand fumbling in the air, she took out a Thorn and tried to roll over.

Kanaya had beaten her; she was on her feet once more and attending to the candles. With a swift puff between her fangs, she cut the flames out of the world and let them sink into the dark. The moons above were hidden by the canopy, but some of their light filtered down and settled in patches on the tent’s roof. Always used to the dark, always able to see through it, Kanaya looked at Rose as she settled on the ground again. Very faintly, she could see the violet of her eyes swimming blearily under half closed lids and exhaustion.

“Good night, Kanaya.” A rustle of cloth spoke of her rolling onto her side, facing away. Her mumbling voice was barely audible when she said, “Shake me if I make any noise while I sleep.”

“Why would I do that?”

A pause. “In case I keep you awake.”

She exhaled quietly. “Very well. Calm dreams to you.”

Almost silent: “Thank you.”

\-------

Kanaya found it very fitting that the world outside was still captured in night when the sound of pure terror woke her. It was a deep rumble at first, but the sweeping of the air beneath great wings cut through with cracks of wind. She had never had the misfortune of hearing it before, but it was ingrained in all troll blood to recognize the source.

A dragon was flying over the forest.

She scrambled from her stomach, shoving herself halfway up. Buried under the dragon noise was another sound that carried no meaning at first. She whipped her head around and saw Rose writhing where she lay, twitching and scrabbling at her sides with her arms wrapped around herself. Something that sounded like whimpering was escaping her mouth, and Kanaya could hear it growing within her chest.

Without a second thought, she launched herself at Rose, snatching her up in her arms where she lay. The scream that Rose tried to let fly from her throat was caught under the hand Kanaya clapped over her mouth. Though she drew a Thorn as though it was a blade, she slammed her hand to the ground and held the needle’s tip up. Rose squirmed against her, wrestled in her grasp with snarling sounding off against her palm.

“You have to wake up,” she hissed in Rose’s ear. “ _Now_. Open your eyes. You have to open your eyes—I am not attacking you.” She held her tighter, completely cutting off her motion. “Rose, please _wake up_.”

A choked gasp pulled at her skin, and she lifted her hand just enough to let air pass. Rose’s breathing was ragged, and swallows that spoke of deep grimacing shook her body. Her head rolled on the ground a moment, trying to draw away from the hand only to bump against Kanaya’s chest.

“What—what in the _hell_ —let _go_ of me!”

“It’s me,” she whispered. “Kanaya Maryam. Rose, you must be _quiet_ now.”

“No, let me fucking _go_!” Her squirming redoubled, feet trying to find purchase on the ground to pull away. “Let go let go _let go_!”

“I am not your night horror. You’re awake now, but you must be _quiet_.” She turned to half pin her down, catching her twisting head under her chin. “Please calm down. You must breathe.”

For a time, she did not. She stiffened, muscles binding so tightly they soon began to tremble. Her leg twitched the most, toes flexing in spasms. When she drew breath again, it was in a rattling gasp.

Without knowing why, Kanaya took her hand from Rose’s face and put it against her forehead. She held her against the shaking, waited out the seizure. When the twitching of her leg stopped and the violent movement was replaced by weak tremors, she listened to Rose’s breathing deepen and slow.

Her voice was a rasp when she asked, “What...what’s going on?”

“There is a dragon nearby.” She looked up to the hidden sky, her jaw growing taut. “I don’t know if you’re able to hear it flying. I don’t know how close it is.”

“Why—why’re you—why are we quiet?”

“Dragons have extraordinary hearing. They suspect every noise, and they will investigate anything. With or without giving any hint of knowledge to their rider.”

“The—their rider?”

“Dragons are lusii, just like my mother grub.” She lowered her voice even further. “They are the custodians of the fiercest hunters. And I know of only one dragon currently alive. Karkat has told me of it, and its ward.”

“Wha...who?”

“The legislacerator. Terezi Pyrope. She has chased Karkat everywhere.” She swallowed. “If—if a dragon is flying here, then...I fear that Pryope’s heard tell of what happened.” She held Rose tighter, but she could not drown out the tremble that invaded her own shoulders. “Until the dragon leaves—until they return from wherever they came from, we have to be quiet. We can’t let them hear us and come to investigate.” Again, she looked at the canvas above them. “I think it won’t be long until sunrise. Pyrope won’t be able to withstand the sun in the desert. She’ll have to retreat, and there’s no place large enough in the forest for the dragon to land without destroying trees. They’ll leave.” She swallowed. “They’ll leave, and report back to the Cruelest Bar. Far away.”

Rose did not reply. Her hand fell limp; the Thorn faded out of reality. Kanaya could feel her clammy palm under her fingertips.

“Can you be quiet?”

“I don’t...don’t know. I...mother. Noir and—then— _mother_.”

There was blazing heat on the hand she held to Rose’s forehead. She could hear a quivering whine beginning to build in her chest, and returned her hand to Rose’s mouth to smother it. Very quietly, very gently, she breathed hushing sounds against her hair.

Eventually, she whispered, “Go back to sleep. I’ll make sure you stay quiet.”

Barely five minutes passed before Rose returned to unconsciousness. Twenty more minutes brought the dragon wings back overhead, and Kanaya closed her eyes tight to focus on her own silence. When another thirty minutes went by, she dared to look up. There was no hell-glow of fire to be seen; only the dimming light of the moons remained.

She took away her arms and sat up. A hesitant touch to Rose’s forehead revealed the beads of sweat that had gathered there. She carefully unwrapped the scarf, drawing the dampened fabric away from her neck and setting it aside. Though she moved back to her own mat, it was only after she had pulled it slightly closer. When she closed her eyes to call up sleep, she did so while watching Rose’s small back and slumped shoulders to make sure she breathed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things contained in my head canon:
> 
> 1\. Trolls are extremely physical, no matter the quadrant or the general relationship.  
> 2\. Dragons are the most feared of creatures, and most every troll save their wards is terrified to the point of paralysis.  
> 3\. Weird, _weird_ alchemy shit.
> 
> I enjoyed this chapter the most of any so far, though I have a feeling it won't be the last one I really adore.


	4. Wanderer's Letters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The reading for this chapter.](http://tindeck.com/listen/mfat)

_To Miss Jade,_

_I am writing on behalf of your compatriot, Rose. My name is Kanaya Maryam. Rose has recently engaged in serious combat with what I am told is your alchemic creation, Jack Noir, and was wounded. She appears to have fallen ill. As I have never before been in close quarters with an alien creature, I am unsure if her pyrexia is severe. However, when she is not sleeping, she is not particularly lucid. She asks for her mother, who I understand is deceased._

_Though I have experience in tending to injured and unwell trolls, I am unaware of how to best assist her. She is unable to instruct me, and given how she spoke highly of you before succumbing to this malady I thought you could help. Especially in light of her brother, who I have had the dubious pleasure of meeting._

_Your advice would be greatly appreciated._

_Sincerely,  
Kanaya Maryam_

_Post Script  
I apologize for not addressing both you and Rose with your respective surnames, but I was unsure of how to spell them and felt that leaving them unwritten would counterbalance the impropriety of misspelling them._

It had taken a great deal of coaxing for Rose to set the paper on fire with one of the Thorns. Even in the brief moments the fire had lit the tent, she did not rise out of her delirium. Her eyes grew wide, and the grimace on her face spoke of a fear Kanaya could not know. The page swiftly turned to curling ash that floated away with the heat, though, and her panic died before it was properly born.

She had tried to roll out of Kanaya’s grasp then, to collapse back to her sleeping bundle in a sweaty heap. Kanaya held her where she was, fetching the canteen that seemed to have an endless supply of clean water and holding it to Rose’s mouth. She hadn’t the strength to push her away, and drank the water with a minimum of protesting groans. When she was finally laid on the bundle and her sweat dabbed away with her scarf, she let out a long sigh. She looked at Kanaya with uncertainty, but soon rolled away from her and fell back into sleep.

The night had fallen once more by the time Kanaya had grown worried enough to dare reaching into the bag sans explanations and guidance. Her fingertips tingled as they groped through oppressive emptiness, and she niggled at her lower lip with her fangs. Eventually she had turned to Rose, briefly conscious, with her hand still in the bag to request help. As she formed the question “how do I find your book” in her mind, however, her hand closed around it. She withdrew the book, exactly as it had looked before. The pencil was retrieved from Rose’s coat; the message was written and sent. She had found the canteen in the same manner, and continued to make the woman drink every time she sporadically woke.

She sat at Rose’s side with the book in her lap. Every few minutes, she opened the cover to find only blank pages. In the meantime, she listened as the woman beside her muttered whimpering noise. The only words she heard clearly were repeated over and over: “Mother,” “Noir,” and “I’m sorry.” The last two always made her want to put her hand on Rose’s head. She tempered the desire with dabbing away the sweat.

It became rote, and with that rote came impatience. She felt as though she was checking every other second, and she did her best to push down on the impatience with little distractions. She put the back of her curled fingers to Rose’s neck to feel her fluttering heartbeat; she kept her forehead dry as best she could; and she picked up on the hitches in her breathing to know when to make her drink before falling back into the dark. What she did most in those long stretches of unconsciousness was study the book. It was no different from any other she had seen in her life, however, and her impatience only grew.

Rose trembled. She finally gave in, set the scarf aside, and put her hand on Rose’s head. The hair under her palm was almost soaked through with sweat, but she did not pull away. It was only dampness she felt; the strands were fine and soft beside it. The heat of the fever was brilliant on her fingertips, and she sighed. With her free hand, she opened the book and held it open in her lap to stare at the first page.

Diurnal though she was, able to accept the harsh light of the day, she was still a troll. Even had the moons been dark, she would have barely struggled to see her handwriting before, and so the shreds of moonlight that came through the forest’s canopy were more than enough to let her see the blank page in perfect clarity. She saw the yellow of her fingernails as clearly as she could in the daylight, the color standing out as much from the white paper as did her gray skin. As she traced over the page with her fingertips, another sigh nearly left her. The letters that began to fade in reverse, appearing to emerge from deep within the paper, made her pull her hand back and swallow her sigh.

_Hi there, Kanaya! This is Jade!_

_Wow, I really didn’t think Rose would ever trust a troll, much less travel with one. But I guess that idea’s all wet, huh? You sound like a copacetic lady, so I’m glad you’re there._

_I’m going to level with you. Even though Rose is pretty smart, she’s still kind of dumb. She always works too hard and uses alchemy too much. Well, I think she fights too much, but her and Dave don’t ever listen to me and John when we tell them to slow down. Dave calls us wet blankets all the time._

_What’s wrong with her is that she probably got hurt more than you think and used alchemy too much again. It’s not anything serious, but she needs to rest a lot and you girls probably shouldn’t move too much. Her fever (I think that’s what it is, I don’t know what a “pyrexia” is but Rose probably does) won’t last too long. It’s just something that happens to us if we’re really hurt and use alchemy to heal up. As for her asking for her mom...well, I know she misses her more than she’s ever going to say. She had a lot of bad dreams before we all split up even though she’d never tell anyone. I guess we should be sleeping in your recuperacoon things too!_

_Don’t worry! Us alchemists bounce back pretty quick, so she should be okay soon!_

_Tell Rose I said hi, and that I hope we all get to meet soon! I miss her and Dave, and I know John does too._

_—Jade_

_P.S.  
It’s okay that you didn’t write our names, but here’s how you do just so you know: Jade Harley, John Egbert, Dave Strider, and Rose Lalonde._

Kanaya let out her breath in a low, deep rush. She read through the letter twice more: first quickly, then slowly examining at the loopy handwriting and the overwhelming cheer in the words. A smile came to her face, and she closed the book slowly. When she looked back to Rose, she stroked gently at her hair. The motion was soon met by Rose’s eyes opening. She stared at the canvas overhead, eyes dancing here and there without focusing. She swallowed once and her eyes lifted to look toward the hand on her head. Following the arm attached to that hand made her gaze come to Kanaya, and she blinked slowly.

There was a long period of silence, but it carried clarity into Rose’s eyes. She took a deep breath, brows drawing together. “Ka...naya?”

“Yes. You are safe.”

A blink brought back bleariness, but she blinked again to force the lucidity to surface. “Safe?”

“Yes. I’m going to make sure you get well. You don’t have to worry.”

Silence. Her eyelids drooped.

She smiled. “Would you like me to read you a story?”

“What?”

“I often read stories to my lusus. It made her happy. I think it could help you sleep more soundly.”

“I...” Very slightly, she turned her head to push against Kanaya’s hand. She closed her eyes. “All right.”

“All right.” She set the book aside and reached into the bag. With a thought of one of her favorites, she plucked the novel from the bag and opened it. In a quiet voice, enunciating clearly, she began to read. For her part, Rose kept her eyes open and listened. When she could not keep her eyes open, she let them close and pushed her head against Kanaya’s hand a little more. She fell asleep within ten minutes. Kanaya kept reading, kept smiling, with a quiet hope in her heart that it would help keep the whimpering at bay.

\-------

Dave Strider woke up tied to a chair.

He was used to it, all told. He’d had more than enough run-ins with the boys in blue and various rivals back home. The small aspects—his coat and guns missing, his tie undone and hanging limp around his neck—were steadying, though he was never one to need much steadying. His sunglasses had been left on his face, and they were jostled by the very gentle slaps delivered to his cheeks, one after the other. He sat quietly for a while; the slaps never grew harder.

“Listen, Bruno,” he said. “Either you start gettin’ into the harder stuff or you bust out the giggle juice and we hit the town all proper. It ain’t like this is my first song and dance with bulls.”

“Oh ho, the mutant speaks!”

He managed to not roll his eyes at the wild cackle that filled the air and sat up properly. A troll stood before him: short and sharp angled from head to foot. A black suit draped on those angles, its high collar rising around her neck and a teal-dyed Libra sign resting on her breast. Her hands rested on a white cane, palms folded over the dragon head carving at the top. Her horns were nearly horizontal, and so suited the pointed glasses on her face. The lenses were brilliant red, and he raised a brow slowly when her black lips peeled back to show her fangs.

“Snazzy saw you got in your mouth, dollface,” he said.

She cackled again, letting her head roll back and her short hair shift on her shoulders. When she lifted her head, she leaned down and set her chin on her hands atop the cane. She bounced her eyebrows. “You shameless flatterer.”

“Dollface, you had no idea who you were droppin’ onto from atop your fuckin’ sky monster. Can’t blame you for wantin’ to get all over the only suave, hard-boiled bastard on this freak planet of yours, but the First Bank of Dave Strider is closed. Segregated, y’see. No fuckin’ troll patrons.”

“Fascinating!” she barked. “I wasn’t aware that mutations had gotten this bad!”

“You wanna run that by me again?”

“Your mutations,” she said. She leaned in close and took a long, deep sniff. “Now, I knew you had your delicious candy red blood the minute I punched you in the snout in the desert.”

That explained the ache in his face. A moment of thinking reminded him of the way she had rabbit-punched his head to make him blackout.

“But I’ve been taking you in for a _long_ while now, Strider.” She took another sniff. “Tell me, did you stay out in the sun to bleach your skin like that, or is peaches over cherries just how your mutation developed?” She reached out suddenly to ruffle his hair. “And what good is _any_ mutation if you don’t get to have any horns?”

“Dollface, you ever consider that maybe you’re the mutant and me and my crew are the fuckin’ normal ones?”

“Objection!” she snapped, pinching his scalp hard enough to draw blood. “You have previously stated that Alternia is _my_ planet. This implies that you are either foreign to it, or that you do not consider it your residence due to your significant mutations.”

He looked at her, blinking once when he felt the blood slide down beside his ear. “Jig’s up then. You’ve done a regular soup job on my tiny human brain safe, and now you get to make off with the bounty of your alien caper. You want a fuckin’ medal?”

She laughed. “So the mutants have taken to calling themselves a new name? I’ll have to see if Karkles gets angry when I call him a human.”

“Karkles?”

“Another mutant with the same tasty blood as you. He was a regular patron at the hostelry.”

“That fuckin’ rag-a-muffin from the speako in the desert? Look, you whack job Jane, don’t go callin’ him a human. It’s insultin’ to me and my crew.”

She grabbed hold of his hair and shook his head. “Then you confess you were at the hostelry when the incident occurred.”

“What incident?”

“The one involving a mysterious demon that slaughtered trolls and lusii as it pleased.” She pulled him closer. “And one of the so-called freak brigandrifts that I’ve heard stories about. Was that ‘one’ you, Strider?”

“I plead the fuckin’ fifth.”

She grinned. “Is this some sort of mutant wriggler’s way out of talking? It’s cute. Sort of.” She shook him harder. “Confess that you were there.”

“Plead the fifth, dollface.”

“You will show the court your respect and refer to the legislacerator by her proper name.”

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, you’re talkin’ like you’re not even here? You’re worse than the bulls at home.”

“My name is Terezi Pyrope, Strider. Use it, and respect the court.”

“We ain’t in any fuckin’ court I recognize.”

“You don’t recognize the Cruelest Bar?”

“Baby, I didn’t recognize the motherfuckin’ juries on Earth. Even if I don’t got any of my _capo_ pull here to make sure your bar gets bought off,” he said, lifting a brow, “it ain’t like I’m gonna fuckin’ roll over for you and spill my guts about anythin’.”

A pause. Terezi laughed, shaking his head once more before letting go. Sauntering, sweeping her cane back and forth before her as she went, she crossed the floor to the nearby desk he had not noticed. She hopped up to sit on its surface and crossed her legs at the ankles. Idly swinging her legs, her grin remained.

“And yet,” she said, “you have a guilty enough conscience to admit there’s guts to be spilled here.” She pulled her cane up and laid it in her lap. “Confess nicely, and I’ll see if I can hold off on your date with the gallows.”

“Dry up.”

Snickering, she drummed her fingers on the dragon head atop her thigh. “Do you want me to go get Lemonsnout? He’s very good at helping me interrogate my prisoners. I let him eat the ones who don’t cooperate.”

“That the name of your sky monster? ‘Cause it’s a pansy-ass name.”

She sighed, shaking her head, and frowned. “You’re starting to bore me.” Another sigh came with a shrug of her shoulder. “Well, I can always go hunt down the other brigandrifts for information. Since you’re the _only_ hard-boiled person on Alternia, I’m sure they’ll talk quickly. Maybe even before I have to mention how hungry Lemonsnout can get.”

Dave Strider had been known for a great many things during his time as a _caporegime_ in New York. He was suave; he had a fantastic poker face; he was an alchemist brilliant enough to outshine his underboss brother. But while the last one did matter at that moment, what mattered most was that he was the fastest man the streets had seen since the arrival of the elder Strider brother. It was that speed that allowed him to snap his fingers and pull his sword out of nothingness; it was that speed that allowed him to transmute the rope holding him and the chair beneath him into sawdust within a heartbeat; and it was that speed that allowed him to sprint across the room with a perfect swing at the troll’s neck planned in the next heartbeat.

Terezi’s grin had returned before he had fully started his sprint. When he arrived, it was to the jamming of the barrel of his own gun to his forehead. It was why he stopped short of alchemizing her cane when she blocked his sword. She held him where he stood, and she cackled loudly.

“You haven’t had any experience with legislacerators?” she asked. “Funny. You’re doing what everyone else does when I get under their skin.”

“My skin is made up of diamonds, I give so few fucks about what you’re sayin’.”

“Then why go for my throat when I mention the other brigandrifts? I have to assume they’re your ‘crew.’ Are they responsible for the incident?”

“Still pleadin’ the fifth, Pyrope.”

“Ooh, now I’ve got you saying my name.” She giggled, the high and scratchy noise caught in her nose. “Your strange fifth pleading is only telling me that you _are_ responsible for the incident, and that you don’t want anyone to know it.”

“We didn’t fuckin’ bring Noir anywhere. He showed up, we tried to ventilate his shitty mutt head, and he dusted on us. End of story.”

She caressed the gun’s hammer and tilted her head to one side. “I think that’s just the start of your story. You haven’t told me what’s going on with that magic sword of yours. I have a feeling that it has something to do with this Noir character.” She leaned close, and he could see the blank stretches of her eyes through the lenses of her glasses. “And I should tell you that my feelings are pretty good when it comes to these things.”

Silence.

“Well, mister coolkid?”

“The fuck did you just call me?”

“Coolkid. You’re trying so hard to keep cool under my expert interrogation...just like a little wriggler who wants to be tough. _Everyone_ tells me what I want to know, Dave Strider.” She smiled even wider. “But your story smells of the most delicious intrigue I’ve encountered in a long, long time. Tell me it. I’m a good listener.” A cackle. “You have to be when you’re seeking absolute justice.”

A long pause. “What kinda wooden nickel is that? How’s justice gonna be absolute?”

She felt the push of his sword grow weaker. She leaned closer and let her voice drop. “Through me enforcing it.”

“Just you? Bunk, Pyrope.”

“ _Just_ me? Why, Strider. Are you saying you want to join the ranks of the legislacerators and bring down the judgment of the Cruelest Bar on the heads of the wicked?”

“Fuck your goddamn Cruelest Bar. I’m lookin’ for the real McCoy. Real justice.”

“And that is?”

“Killing Jack Noir, like we shoulda done when he first crawled outta that fuckin’ alchemic sludge we left behind. That’s the only justice that matters here.”

Terezi regarded him with a tilted head and a sniffing nose. She lifted her thumb from the hammer of the gun and took it from his head entirely. She chuckled. “Do you know what honesty smells like, coolkid?”

“What are you, a fuckin’ bloodhound?”

“It smells white. Blistering white, like the sun at high noon. It stings when you smell it, it’s such a perfect smell. And it’s never something you can fake.” She set the gun aside and leaned in further than she had before. “You’re an honest little mutant, under all that sour-milk anger.” She pushed his sword away and set her cane down between them. “So. Tell the great legislacerator your story, mutant coolkid.”

“Dave Strider, dollface. Dave Strider the human.”

She cackled in his face. “You’re getting interesting again! I _love_ it!”

Dave didn’t know whether to frown or smirk. He settled on retying his tie, walking back to the chair as he did. When he arrived, he took the back of the chair in hand and spun it about. He sat in it backward, crossing his arms atop the back and looking at her. “Where d’you want me to start?”

“Tell me about this crew of yours.”

He did.

\-------

_Dear Karkat,_

_I am writing to confirm your safety. I know it must be more treacherous for you to travel without your lusus, and now that I have a method of contacting you, I’m anxious to hear if you’re all right. The main reason I ask, though, is because the night we parted ways, I heard a dragon flying over the forest we’re traveling through. We were undiscovered, but I know that Pyrope has something of a black infatuation for you and tends to try to hunt you down, and so I was concerned for you._

_As I said, Rose and I are well. No, I should be honest. Rose is doing better, as she was somewhat ill before. I’ve been making sure that she avoids using too much alchemy or has us ride too long. She is as stubborn as you are in some respects, and I mean this as a compliment on your behalf. It is somehow reassuring to be traveling with someone who has the same sort of impatient drive as my moirail. At the very least, I do know how to handle her obstinance thanks to you._

_I hope all is well for you._

_Sincerely,  
Kanaya Maryam_

Rose was sitting at the edge of the river they had made camp near, bare feet in the water. Her coat was on the ground; she had rolled up the sleeves of her shirt. Though it would still be some time before the sun properly rose, she had her hat on her head as she sat bent over her knees and watched Maplehoof drink. She barely reacted at the sound of Kanaya’s footsteps, only turning to look over her shoulder. When she was joined on the ground, she took off her hat.

She looked at the book and piece of paper in Kanaya’s hands. “You wrote a letter?”

“To Karkat, yes. Would you be so kind?”

She took the proffered paper and closed her eyes, drawing a needle. Only when she had set the paper on fire did she open them again, and she dismissed the Thorn with an idle wave of her fingers. With a small sigh, she rubbed at her face.

“Why did you do that?” Kanaya asked.

“I’m still very tired, despite all the sleeping you make me do.”

“No, why did you close your eyes?”

“It’s impolite to read someone else’s private letters. I never could quite make Dave understand that, no matter how many times we dueled after I discovered him reading something private of mine.”

A pause. “Is this sort of relationship common on your planet?”

“Sibling rivalries, yes. To the extent we take it? Not particularly. If you want to see a ‘normal’ relationship between siblings, you should meet John and Jade.”

“Explain what a sibling is, first.”

“One of the people most closely related to you by blood, very strictly speaking. You may also have adoptive brothers and sisters, or half siblings like Dave and myself.”

“So humans function in social groups based on specific blood colors?”

“No, no, no,” Rose muttered. “We don’t have a hemospectrum; we’ve all got the same red blood. ‘Blood’ is just the common way to state family lines and genetics. My mother—the woman who gave birth to me—also gave birth to Dave and his elder brother. They simply had a different father than me.”

“Your mother gave...birth to you? Is this a colloquialism for your form of hatching?”

“No, it’s just the phrase. We gestate in our mother’s womb, and are...” She trailed off, rubbing the back of her head. “Human reproduction is a rather...awkward topic.”

“All right,” Kanaya said. “If Dave is your brother, what does that make John and Jade in relation to you?”

A pause. “At this point? Something like family.”

“And if you were not at this point?”

“They were our friends, back on Earth. Just friends.” She gestured at nothing, flicking her fingers toward the river. “I spent more time with them than with Dave. He mostly lived in New York City, while we lived more to the north in the state. We—John, Jade, and myself—played when we were young. Since my mother basically raised me as a disciple of Mister Harley, they were the closest friends I had back then. Certainly the only ones who never mocked or feared my alchemy.”

“No wonder you speak highly of them,” Kanaya said. She smoothed out a crease in her skirt, folding her hands on her knees when she was satisfied. “Karkat mostly just stormed into my hive whenever he pleased when we were young.” A small laugh escaped her. “The first time he came, I woke up because our lusii were fighting. I got out of my recuperacoon to investigate what was happening, and I didn’t even walk halfway across my respiteblock before I heard Karkat jump in.”

“He invaded your house to get in your recuperacoon.”

“He also demanded food.”

Rose snickered. “I can see that.”

Kanaya chuckled behind her hand. “Of course, he was so pitiable that I let him stay. Then he kept coming back like a purrbeast you’ve been kind to.” She sighed quietly and smiled. “It was very natural that we became moirails.”

A pause. “I’m surprised it took you so long to write him a letter, then. You certainly do seem to be quite pale for him.”

Another chuckle. “I could say the same for you and your...impromptu family.”

Rose slowly rubbed at her eyes. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she let out a sigh. “May I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

She took her hand from her face and held it up as she turned to face Kanaya properly. “Why is it that you’re so interested in my affairs?”

“Have I been prying?”

“No,” she said in a sigh. “I’m not used to people asking me questions like this. My friends are used to me, and no one ever much thought of us as anything more than alchemists. I don’t see why a woman—why a troll would be interested in what I have to say or have done in my life after we got off on such bad feet.”

“I told you before,” Kanaya said, “that I don’t begrudge you for what’s happened. I do honestly find you intriguing. I wasn’t aware that was a point of contention for humans.”

She frowned, waving her hand in the air to dismiss the words as she looked away. “It’s not. It’s just very peculiar for anyone to want to hear about someone responsible for so many bad things.”

A moment passed. Kanaya watched as Rose let her arm drop to its former place on her knee. A glance up, and she noticed that strands of her white-blonde hair had fallen to drape over her cheek. She reached out and tucked the strands behind Rose’s small, round ear. When Rose jerked and spun about, she brought her hand back without haste and smiled. “It’s rather charming to see someone feeling so strongly that they need to rectify something they consider wrong. It’s very rare among trolls. We usually focus on taking vengeance on those we feel have wronged us.”

“You...find me charming?”

She let out an amused breath. “I do.”

Rose froze. She blinked three times, eyes darting to different places with each closing. She looked away quickly, only flicking her eyes back to spot the book between them to snatch it up cleanly. Swallowing, she said, “Let’s see if you’ve gotten a reply.” A moment of hesitation passed before she held the book out without meeting Kanaya’s gaze.

Looking back and forth between Rose’s turned face and the book, she took it and opened the cover. The first glimpse showed her that words had indeed appeared, but focusing properly made her raise a brow. The handwriting was blocky but perfectly legible. She did not recognize it, and looked to Rose once again. “I believe this is from one of your friends.”

Her head swung about. “What? From who?”

She glanced at the page. “It says it’s from John.”

She held out her hand quickly, but took care not to wrench it from her grasp. Her eyes dashed across the page, fingers sliding down the paper as she read. When she had finished, she blinked and lifted her head as well as her brows.

“What is it?”

“I—well, I haven’t heard from John in some time. The last time he wrote us it was to say he had stopped in the largest city near the sea. Now he’s saying he’s back on land, and he’s heard all the new rumors about our band of brigandrifts.” She sighed. “As well as that he’s heard something about Noir. He’d like to talk about it in person, if any of us are nearby.” Another small sigh. “And, as always, he sounds incredibly excited.”

Kanaya looked over Rose’s head into the sky, drawing her brows together as she thought. “A city near the sea? I think...do you have a map in your bag?”

“Of course.”

“I believe I know which city he’s talking about, though I’d like to consult a map to confirm it. We shouldn’t be too far from it, actually.” She blinked, shaking her head slightly, and looked back to Rose. “Did you say he wrote that he was back on land?”

“Yes.”

“That’s quite strange. The only people that would be on the sea are gamblignants and seagrifts—trolls.” Another blink. “How in the world can he have been with trolls this long without causing even more rumors?”

“John can be remarkably persuasive on top of being ridiculously friendly. If there’s one of us who can associate with trolls without causing a stir, it’s him.”

“What do you propose we do?”

“What else _would_ we do? We have to go to the city and see what he knows.” Rose smiled slightly. “It’ll be nice to see someone that _isn’t_ Dave. John doesn’t bother me nearly as much as my dear brother.”

Kanaya’s smile returned. “Then I look forward to getting there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, these characters? The ways they interact? They're so damned _fun_. So's making up all these ways to make them interact, but we've established I'm a little drama whore.
> 
> Oh god. Dave. _Dave_. Your gangster slang. You hilarious badass. You will never fail to amuse me.
> 
> Also, oh dear. My, ah...my ships seem to be showing. I'm not subtle in the slightest.


	5. And All Roads Lead to the Sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fan art relevant to this chapter:
> 
> [Husk](http://crustaceagenomn.tumblr.com/): [The weary riders](http://crustaceagenomn.tumblr.com/post/9204332847).
> 
> [The reading for this chapter.](http://tindeck.com/listen/dzoa)

The sun was setting and the world was growing dark for it. Rose glanced up the hill, but the light was retreating too quickly to plot a course free of rocks and small holes. Sighing, she pulled back on the reins and brought Maplehoof to a stop. Though she meant to turn slightly, Kanaya slumped forward, chin coming to rest on Rose’s shoulder; her arms draped loosely around Rose’s waist.

She frowned. “Kanaya.”

“Mmph.”

“Kanaya, you’re falling asleep again.”

“No I’m not.”

“Fine. You’re acting like I’m a pillow again, and I need you to stop that and get the lantern out of the bag. Please.”

Stillness.

“Kanaya, as this is the fourth time you’ve tried to fall asleep on me, I know you’re very tired. However, we’re almost there, and it would be best if we didn’t ride in with you asleep.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re the one who’s trying to make me look inconspicuous, and having a stranger with no visible horns riding in with an unconscious troll in the saddle would probably raise some eyebrows.” She gestured up the dark slope. “It should be just over this hill, and I need the lantern to make sure Maplehoof doesn’t trip.”

A sigh. “All right.” Kanaya sat up properly, trying to blink away the weariness in her eyes, and opened the bag on Rose’s back. The lantern was taken and handed off, and she closed her eyes tightly at the brightness of the lightning used to set the wick within alight.

Rose held the lantern high and gathered the reins in her free hand. Once Maplehoof had resumed a trot, she sighed. “Why are you falling asleep on me? I can’t possibly be that comfortable.”

“I didn’t sleep well before we set out today.”

“What? Why? You usually drop right off when we make camp.”

Kanaya sighed and rubbed at her eyes. “It’s beginning to dawn on me that we’re much farther away from home than I’ve ever been, for one. For another, I’ve never been in any town much larger than the one Noir demolished.” She paused, and her voice was quiet when she said, “And I’ve never seen the sea before.”

Rose chuckled. “Well, I suppose a desert dweller really _wouldn’t_ be prepared to see a vast amount of water in one place. It’s very exciting—I understand how you had trouble sleeping before we finally arrive.”

She squinted at the back of Rose’s hat. “Are you being sarcastic again?”

“A little.”

“Are you aware of how much it confuses me when I’m tired?”

Another chuckle. “All right, all right. I’ll try to rein it in when you’re starting to use me as a pillow.” She lifted the lantern higher. “But you should get the sleep out of your eyes if you’re at all interested in seeing the city. We’re almost at the top.”

Holding back another sigh, Kanaya sat up straighter and peered out over Rose’s head. A faint light was visible at the crest of the hill, and when they drew close to the peak Rose lowered the lantern. With the moons not yet risen, streetlamps were aglow all throughout the city, and Kanaya unabashedly stared.

The city stretched and sprawled from the very edge of the inky black sea to a third of the way up the hill they stood atop. The buildings varied in every way possible: from height to width; from squalor to opulence; from purpose to purpose. As they rode down, she could see the broad signs announcing which building was a hostelry and which was a hoardpository. When they reached the first proper street, paved in crooked and uneven stones, the noise of people became raucously loud.

Though it was still early in the night, there was shouting everywhere. One troll howled abuse at what seemed to be her kismesis, the other troll slumped on the ground with a broken nose. Others barked laughter to the cloudless sky as they passed, carousing with ale bottles clutched in their hands. She saw matesprits walking along together, smiling with the private lives of pity they had. Every so often, Rose yanked back on the reins to keep Maplehoof from crashing into young trolls that sprinted in front of them, and steered the horse away from the lusii hurrying after their wards with shrieks of admonishment.

“Well, it’s certainly louder than New York City, but it isn’t exactly the same architectural wonder,” Rose said. “Not a skyscraper or house of bricks in sight.” She shrugged. “Charming in its own way, I suppose.”

“You’re _familiar_ with cities?”

“Dave lived in one of the biggest in America. I had to get used to the rough streets when we visited him and his brother.”

A pause. “America?”

“Trolls don’t have different countries. I forgot.” Before Kanaya could interject, she said, “A country is just a land ruled by one group or another. You don’t have different countries because you’re all ruled by your emperors and empresses. It’s not a distinction you have to worry about.”

“Your world continues to be very strange, Miss Lalonde.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” She held the lantern over her shoulder; Kanaya blew out the flame and returned it to the bag. “All right, John said to go to the largest inn nearest the docks. He should be waiting, and I’ll go to greet him first.”

“Alone?”

Rose sighed. “John and Jade are...affectionate, I suppose? I’d like to explain what’s happened a little bit before introducing you.”

Her shoulders slumped; she had no idea why. “Well...all right. I suppose I’ll just look at the sea for a while.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “I’m not trying to exclude you or anything.”

Kanaya looked away, lifting her head. “I’m perfectly all right. I’d do the same if we crossed paths with Karkat after the fortnight we’ve passed apart.”

For a moment, she tried to catch Kanaya’s eye. With her effort ending in utter failure, she exhaled quietly and turned about. “We should be there soon.”

The rest of the trek was completed in silence; Rose with her eyes aimed forward and Kanaya with hers to one side. When Maplehoof’s steps changed from clop on stone to clump on wood, Rose bade her halt. To one side stretched the long path of the docks and the deckhands scurrying here and there, and to one side sat a massive building with an etched wooden plaque proclaiming it to be the Edge of the Sea Hostelry.

“A more unimaginative name I haven’t seen,” Rose muttered as she dismounted. She offered her hand to Kanaya, but it and she were entirely ignored in favor of a smooth sliding down from the saddle. Briefly, the urge to scratch at the back of her head filled one hand. She banished it in favor of saying, “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll be right here,” Kanaya said quietly.

Unable to create a reply, Rose nodded and went off, pulling her scarf high on her face as she did. In the ruckus of voices and pounded upon planks, Kanaya looked out at the ships. They were grand things: every description from her erstwhile patrons matched up. The sails that had been left unfurled fluttered in the breeze, and the flags atop the highest masts snapped with tiny cracks. If she squinted and looked out into the distance, she thought she could see another approaching ship. Faintly, with the ear turned toward the hostelry, she heard the halting of a sound she did not fully recognize.

The feminine shout of shock she heard, however, made her start and her eyes go wide. She ducked under Maplehoof’s head to take a few steps, but nearly retreated entirely at what she found. A giant of a human, broad shouldered and taller than most of the trolls around him that leaped aside from his appearance, all but skipped through the hostelry’s doorway. He had caught Rose up in his arms and immediately put her on his shoulders when they were past the doors, laughing loudly when Rose’s arms pinwheeled as she tried to maintain balance. She nearly pitched over completely when she scrabbled to hold her hat to her head.

“Egbert, you lumbering idiot, let me the hell down!” she shouted.

“Aw, c’mon Rosie!” he laughed. “What a greeting to get from my favorite old flapper! Not even a smile?”

“Not when you’re liable to make me look absolutely ridiculous in front of my companion, you nitwit! Let me down before she sees!”

He paused, looking about with quick swings of his head. Kanaya shrunk back when his gaze landed on her, but bumped into Maplehoof and had her retreat foiled. The man tilted his head back and grinned at Rose. “Is she that nifty looking lady over there by your horse?”

Rose’s head snapped up; Kanaya could see the dusting of deeper red on her cheeks just above her scarf. After a moment, she put her hands on her face and snarled, “ _Dammit_ , John.” She let out another shout when he leaned far forward and plucked her from his shoulders, stumbling slightly when her boots hit the ground.

Snickering, John strode toward Kanaya with his grin still in place. As he drew near, she could see the large size of his front teeth, almost jutting out over his lower lip like a proper set of improperly placed fangs. He wore square glasses with wide black frames, and his black hair was disheveled despite the tidy, short cut. On his long legs were well fitting trousers, brown faded to beige; on his torso was a plain white tunic, sleeves rolled up to show his thick forearms, covered by an unbuttoned blue waistcoat.

He lifted a hand as if to greet her, but his smile suddenly died as he stopped walking. Her eyes widened further when his lips pulled into a frown and he stormed forward. He sidestepped around her and Maplehoof entirely, throwing out his hand to grab something. A male troll squealed in terror as he was lifted off his feet by the back of his shirt, and gulped noisily when John turned him about to glare in his face.

“I recognize you,” John said quietly.

“Y-you’ve got me confused with someone else!”

“No, I know exactly who you are. You and your whole palooka crew.” He shook the troll. “I remember exactly what you do, and now I see you trying to do it to a friend of my friend. And I remember telling you saps to _scram_ , or I’d get my hammer out and make sure I took apart your ship after getting everyone off it. Board—” He shook him. “By—” Harder. “ _Board_. Now you go tell your guys to get outta here before _my_ crew docks. Because you know what’ll happen if I let my captain know you didn’t do what I told you.”

The troll’s jaw began to tremble; his rusty eyes were as wide as they could open.

“You get me?”

“Y-yes sir.”

“Good. Now beat it.” He made to set the troll down, but thought better of it. Instead, he turned him around and launched him off with a hard kick to the rear. The troll yelped when he hit the ground, but set off in a dash as soon as he got to his feet. Frowning, John clapped his hands up and down before setting them in his pockets. With a sigh, he watched the troll vanish into the crowd. After a moment, he blinked and turned to Kanaya. His smile instantly returned.

“So you’re coming along with Rose?” he asked. “Nice to meet ya!” He held out his hand; she jumped at the suddenness. He chuckled. “C’mon, I’m not gonna boot you like that guy. You’re not the one who tried to kidnap anyone.”

“Excuse me?”

John turned around, seeing that Rose had caught up to him. He never stopped smiling when he poked his thumb over his shoulder toward the crowd. “Yeah, that guy was a slaver. One of the worst snatchers in the city, last time I was here.”

Her brows furrowed. “There are slavers here? And—they just tried to kidnap her?”

“Yep. She’s got the look of a person coming in from a small town. One of their favorite targets in a city.” He put a hand to his chin, looking at the sky. “Wonder how we can fix that.” He brought his head down, tapping his fist in the palm of his other hand. “I know!” He snatched the hat from Rose’s head, holding her away when she all but leaped forward to grab it back. Snickering, he plopped the hat on Kanaya’s head, shifting it to sit neatly between her horns. “There you go! Even niftier!”

“Egbert, for the love of God, give me that back!”

“Calm down, Rosie!” He waved his hand about. “No one’s gonna attack you here for being one of the infamous brigandrifts! They’re used to me!” He snuck a finger under her scarf and pulled it down around her neck. “So don’t worry about showing off your pretty face.”

She opened her mouth to snap off a reply, but sighed and put a hand to her head. “Kanaya, this is John Egbert, the greatest example of a jokester to come from Earth. John, Kanaya Maryam, who is now undoubtedly thinking I’m a fool thanks to your japery.”

He laughed and clapped her on the back, knocking the air out of her lungs. As Rose coughed, he once again held his hand out to Kanaya. “All right, Miss Kanaya. It’s nice to meet you.” When she slowly took his hand, he grinned all the more. He bent nearly double to tap his lips on her knuckles without lifting up her arm, and let her return the gesture with all her hesitation.

“A...pleasure,” she said quietly, letting go of his hand.

“Good, we’re all introduced.” He returned his hand to his pocket and turned to Rose. “So—what’s all this noise I’ve been hearing about a fight between brigandrifts and Noir? Does it have something to do with this lady riding with you?”

“It does. Noir happened to cross paths with me in the town she ran her business.”

He grimaced, sucking air between his teeth. “Oh, not good.”

“Exactly. As her lusus was murdered, she wanted to come along to see him dead with her own eyes.”

Whatever trace of a smile had been on his face vanished as he turned to Kanaya. “Wow, I’m sorry to hear that. Are you holding up okay?” His lips quirked up. “I know Rose is sort of stuffy. It’s okay, you can tell me if she’s been giving you trouble.”

“John, I’m expressly going out of my way to not be trouble for her after what happened, and I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t suggest otherwise.”

He held up his hands, but his smile grew wider. “Aw, Rosie, you know I’m playing.” At her frown, he sighed dramatically. “Okay, okay, I’ll quit razzing in front of your lady friend. You’re such a wet blanket.” He returned his hands to his pockets, turning to look at Kanaya before tilting his head toward the hostelry. “You gals hungry or anything? Why don’t we go talk over some food? We’ve got some time to kill before my captain gets here.”

“Your captain?” Rose asked. “Are you saying you’re actually a deckhand on a troll ship?”

“Yep! She picked me up about a sweep ago. Really interested in alchemy after I busted up a brawl she got caught in.” He paused. “Well, she kinda started it, but she said she had a good reason. Something about dealing with her kismesis.” He chuckled and shrugged. “Anyway, I’ve been waiting up for you classy ladies for a while, so I’m starving. Let’s eat.” With little more than a brief wave forward of his hand, he started off.

The look on Rose’s face as she looked after him was a mix of weariness and frustration, and she only looked at the ground when she took her eyes from his back.

“Is that what you meant by affectionate?” Kanaya asked.

“Yes, unfortunately.”

A pause came before a quiet chuckle. “Well, that explains your reluctance to introduce us right away.”

“I’m sorry,” Rose mumbled. “I knew he’d get excited, but I didn’t think he’d act that outlandishly.”

“It’s quite all right.” She took the hat carefully from her head and set it gently atop Rose’s mussed hair. “Here. I believe this is rightfully yours.”

Sighing, she adjusted the hat’s fit. For a moment, she took the scarf in hand as though to draw it back over her face. She let her hand drop to the strap of her bag. “Thank you. We should go inside before he comes out to carry us in.”

She blinked. “He would do that?”

“He carried me _out_ , didn’t he?”

Another blink. “Right.”

“After you,” said Rose with a slight bow. “I’ll be there after tying up Maplehoof.”

Kanaya nodded, walking to the doors and entering slowly. It was immediately clear where the trolls stumbling around outside had received their liquor. There were already people here and there singing drinking songs or slumping over their tables. It was as loud as her hostelry had ever become at its rowdiest, and it seemed like the normal volume. She went quickly to the table John occupied, head slightly ducked when she sat.

“You doing all right?”

She looked up, barely lifting her head. “What?”

He tapped beneath one of his vividly blue eyes with his pinky. “I’m pretty used to trolls, but you look like you haven’t been getting any shut-eye. Is Rose keeping you awake during the day or something?”

Sighing, Kanaya shook her head. “I simply had trouble sleeping before we started riding today. It’s a unique experience to come all this way, I must admit.”

“Did you guys come a long way?”

“From the edge of the desert to the east.”

John let out a long, low whistle. “Figures Rosie’d go all over the place looking for Noir. You keeping up with her all right?”

A pause; she worried at her lip with a fang. “I think it’s fortunate she has a hoofbeast we can both ride. She seems as though she’d outpace me very quickly, despite her being shorter than me.”

“Oop,” said John, “don’t let her hear you call her short.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“She doesn’t like that me and Dave got taller than her,” he said. “When we were kids, she was always this long-limbed girl going around with her wands and looking like some witch out of a book, and then we got taller. Me more than Dave, but she doesn’t like us ever saying she’s shorter.”

She glanced to one side a moment, unsure if she expected his grin to change in the interim. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He chuckled, the sound barely audible over the ambient noise.

“What?”

“Nothing really,” he replied. “I’m just glad to see Rose made nice with someone that’s not us.” He glanced over her head and leaned in quickly to hiss, “But don’t tell her I said that!”

She knew better than to ask, instead turning to find Rose approaching. The woman sat down at Kanaya’s right, taking her hat from her head as she sank down. “All right, John. What exactly have you heard about Noir that you wanted to tell me about?”

He rolled his eyes, leaning back in his chair to let his arms hang limp. He met no one’s eyes, lips pursed in a small pout.

She lifted a brow. “What are you doing?”

John sighed loudly through his nose, eventually tipping his head forward to look at Kanaya. “I’m trying to tell her she’s being a big wet blanket again. You got that, right?”

“Wha—how am I a wet blanket? I’m trying to discuss the matter you wrote about.”

“Yeah, but come on, Lalonde!” He lifted his arms, wiggling his hands in the air. “It’s been almost half a sweep since we last saw each other! So here we are with all these snazzy stories to tell each other and at this great saloon to drink together and all you want to do is talk about Noir!”

“John, I have no ‘snazzy’ stories whatsoever to tell. And I have no desire to imbibe when Noir is liable to—”

“Rose, he’s not going to just show up somewhere.”

“The unfortunate mess I brought down on Kanaya’s head just two weeks ago tells me otherwise.”

He groaned, putting his hands on his face. “That was a _fluke_. You have to know that—you’re the smart one!”

“John.”

He lifted a hand, meeting her eyes. “Rose.”

“ _John_.”

“ _Rose_.”

Kanaya stared at the both of them in the silence that settled on their table for a remarkably long ninety seconds.

“Would you please just tell me what it is you’ve heard?”

“Have a beer with me.”

“ _Egbert_ —”

He held up a hand. “One beer.”

“You’re showing me three fingers.”

“One for you, one for me, and one for Miss Kanaya.”

She sighed.

“ _One_ drink,” he said. “Then I’ll spill everything I know about Noir and what people are saying about us.”

Rose frowned at him.

John met her frown with one of his own, but gave up after a moment to clasp Kanaya’s hands in his and gaze upon her as any desperate supplicant would. “Help me out here, sister. You’ve been riding with her for two weeks—you know she needs to lighten up! One drink!”

“Erm...”

“I’ll sweeten the deal!” John said. He swept one of his hands through the air to gesture at a beaten piano sitting nearby. “One drink with me, and I’ll play us all a tune!”

Kanaya’s brows rose. “You can play?”

“Rosie’s pretty sharp on her violin!” he replied. He turned to look at Rose and grinned. “You still have it, right?”

“How does that matter?” she grumbled.

“No one can fiddle like you!” he said. “C’mon, show off to everyone! I’m sure Miss Kanaya’ll be impressed! One song, one drink, and we all trade our big stories!”

Her frown remained; one brow lifted slowly. “Your list of demands is growing, Egbert.”

“Aw, you know if I was Jade it’d be worse.” He chuckled. “Just have a drink. I’m not going to try and get you all ossified. Just want to have a good time with a friend I haven’t seen for a while.”

She stared at him.

He widened his eyes, tucking his hands beneath his chin to create an image Kanaya could favorably equate to a starry-eyed woofbeast.

A pause.

“ _Please_?”

She snarled out a sigh, putting a hand to her forehead. “ _Fine. One_ drink.”

“Attagirl!” he cried. He turned halfway about in his chair, waving his hands at the barkeep and flashing three fingers when he had gotten attention. He made to turn back, but paused and shouted, “And some food, too!”

“Now what have you been hearing?” Rose asked.

“You promise to stick around until you’ve finished your drink?”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine, yes.”

“No downing it in one go?”

“All right.”

“And you’ll eat your food, too?”

“John, if you’re so determined to keep me here, just alchemize something to bind me where I sit, but before you do for God’s sake _tell me what you’ve heard_.”

He grinned. “Okay, deal.” When their drinks were delivered, he took a long swig. “So. Noir caught the attention of a whole bunch of folks out to the west.”

“We’re in the west, though,” Kanaya said. “At the very edge of the sea.”

His grin grew wider with his chuckle. “Yeah, but what’s even _farther_ west? On the other side of the sea?”

“Well...the greater cities, where a great deal of trolls with high blood live,” she said. “And I suppose that’s where the Cruelest Bar is located.”

“Bigger than that, sister.”

Rose had been idly tapping a nail on the side of her glass, but halted mid-tap. “I only know of one thing larger in notoriety than the Bar, John. Are you actually insinuating that we’ve captured the attention of the _highest_ highbloods?”

“Not insinuating,” said John. “My captain got word straight from a fleet’s first mate. The royals are really interested in us now that they’ve heard about what Noir can do.” He poked in the air, finger pointed at her. “And what _you_ can do, Rosie.”

“And they aren’t interested in you? You’re the one who said he broke up a brawl using alchemy.”

He laughed. “I’m just another reason for them to catch up with the crew of the Mind Scourge! I’m not that special!”

“What did you say?”

John and Rose turned to Kanaya, who sat with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth. The expression on her face was a blend of shock and fear; her hands drew away from the glass of ale before her.

He blinked, scratching at his cheek. “That I’m not special?”

“ _What_ ship are you a deckhand on?”

“The Mind Scourge.” He started, brows shooting up his forehead as he waved his hands frantically. “No, no! No, you don’t have to get scared! I’m not going to do anything, and my captain won’t, either!”

Rose leaned close to quietly ask, “Kanaya, what do you know?”

She started three times, head whipping from John to the table, back again, and at last to Rose. When she swallowed, the need to grab hold of Rose’s wrist and _run_ swelled up inside her tight-coiled stomach. The only reason she did not was because of the wild, panicked whinny that shrieked through the doors of the hostelry. John and Rose spun about at the noise in unison, but Rose bolted from her chair not a heartbeat later. Kanaya followed, leaving John dumbstruck where he sat.

Outside, a rider in black was atop Maplehoof, howling with laughter as the horse bucked and kicked and screeched. There was no unseating, one hand grasping the reins tightly and the other waving in the air in grand glee. Trolls dived here and there to escape the wild kicks, but a small group stood on the docks cheering the rider on, roaring and clapping their hands.

Rose dashed up, pulling a needle into her hand. Skidding to a halt, she whipped the needle around and shouted, “Get the hell off my horse!” Lightning streaked into the stone street, seizing up a great stone that followed the whirl of her arm. The rider looked up only to be caught perfectly by the rock and bodily flung off Maplehoof.

Creating a strong post before banishing the needle, Rose moved closer slowly. She held up her hands, walking to and fro to stay in front of Maplehoof. Pushing air between her teeth in gentle shushes, she patted high on the air. The reins swung by her hands, but she did not snatch at them. Grimacing, she dodged the flailing hooves when Maplehoof reared back, and continued to stay before her. As the horse seemed to calm, shaking her head with sharp exhales but no longer kicking, Rose reached out carefully.

Her right arm whipped about to smash her fist into her nose, and she tripped over her feet to fall against the post. Maplehoof whinnied in shock, dancing backward as Rose began to hack out coughs with blood flowing down her face. She swore aloud when she punched herself once more, teeth cutting the inside of her mouth to let blood flow over her lips.

“And _nooooooow_ we’re getting even, human!”

She looked up, seeing the wild rider advance upon her. It was a woman, her long horns curving up to end in a hook on one and a crescent on the other. Her clothes were pitch black save for the patches of dust from her fall and the sharp, dark blue thread accents. The Scorpio symbol sat proudly on her breast, and pointed lines curved about those breasts. The long coat fell about her trouser covered legs, the hem swooping up and down to emulate the arcs of a spider web. Her blue painted lips were smeared by the blue of her blood, slipping from her nose and the cuts her fangs had made. Grinning, she rubbed the back of her hand over her chin, coating the slash of fabric extending from her wrist to the ring of cloth tied round her middle finger.

Kanaya ran to stand in front of Rose, feet braced apart and arms spread wide. Her breath was catching on her tongue, fingers trembling. Her chainsaw was in the bag; the bag was still on Rose’s back. The troll smirked at her, snickering through her bloodied nose. She waved her finger in chastisement, and Kanaya could feel cold, cruel claws trying to slip into her mind. She felt a great urge to spin about and kick Rose in the ribs. Gritting her teeth, she won out against the prodding and took pleasure at the surprise on the other woman’s face.

She heard the quiet curses hissing from Rose’s mouth, and so did not jump in shock when she felt a hand take hold of her shoulder and push her aside. The Thorns were caught in her clenched hands, and she glared at the troll with her jaw set. The troll replied with a renewed grin, hand slithering into the pocket of her coat. As she drew out her hand, closed over something that shone bright blue between her fingers, Rose lifted the Thorns high.

“ _Break it up_!”

A pillar of stone shot up between them, crashing into their hands and knocking the Thorns and a set of dice high into the air. Convulsively, Kanaya followed their arc and caught them before Rose or the troll could think to do so. She turned about to find John hurrying up to the women. He slid to a halt between them, smashing the pillar apart and banishing the hammer in his hands in one smooth movement. He halted them in the act of drawing out new weapons, Rose with her gun and the troll with a hook-ended dagger.

“ _Captain_!” he shouted. “I told you before I left that I was going to meet my friends and that you _shouldn’t_ attack them!”

She loosened in his grasp, her smirk becoming a smile. “Oh, _theeeeeeeese_ are your friends?”

“And that was my horse you spooked!” Rose shouted.

The troll laughed. “So sorry, little wriggler! It looked like a softy lusus, and I just _haaaaaaaad_ to ride it! I didn’t think it would scare that much!”

John held Rose’s wrist tightly when she tried to wrench free, continuing to frown at the troll. “You’re not apologizing and meaning it, captain. Try again.”

She sighed. “Oh, all right.” She leaned to one side to look at Rose properly. “I’m sorry for scaring your hoofbeast.”

“ _And_?” John asked.

“And using the Mindgrip on you.” She smirked. “Do you apologize for hitting me with a rock, little alchemist?”

“Hardly.”

The troll laughed before looking to John. “I think I like your friend, John dear!”

Rose’s eyes widened; she slowly turned to look at John. “‘John _dear_ ’?”

He sighed, letting go of their hands. When he did not see them lift them back up, the troll going as far to slip the dagger back beneath her coat, he stepped back half a pace. “Okay, let’s start properly. Rose, this is—”

The troll interrupted and said, “John’s _matespriiiiiiiit_ —”

It was Kanaya who interrupted then, quietly saying, “Vriska Serket, captain of the Mind Scourge.”

Vriska turned to look at Kanaya. At first, her face betrayed her surprise. Slowly, her lips curled into a smirk, one brow rising. “Oh? I didn’t think John would have another troll friend coming to meet him.”

The words came from somewhere she hadn’t thought of, but she urged them into the world. “I came with Rose.”

More snickering. “All right. What’s your name?”

“Kanaya Maryam.”

“Rose Lalonde,” Rose snapped before Vriska could ask.

She grinned all the more, reaching to take hold of John’s arm. “You have _reeeeeeeeally_ interesting friends, John.” With a look on her face that perfectly blended magnanimity and arrogance, she gestured toward the docks. “Why don’t we go aboard my ship? It’ll be a nicer place to discuss things.”

“Discuss what,” Rose grumbled.

“Going to the best place to hear something new about your monster, little alchemist!” Vriska said. “The capitol city of all trolldom!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From the very beginning, I called this story "the cowboys-pirates-alchemists thing."
> 
> I was so excited to hit this chapter, and by god was I not proven wrong to be excited. I adore Vriska, in all her wonderful craziness.
> 
> Oh, Rose and Kanaya. I do so love you ladies and all your interacting.


	6. Between the Pitch Black Sky and the Deep Blue Sea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fan art relevant to this chapter:
> 
> [invalidgriffin](http://invalidgriffin.tumblr.com/): [Comfort](http://invalidgriffin.tumblr.com/post/9989701014/shinjishazaki-but-um-something-that-just).  
> [Skarita](http://skaritagonehomestuck.tumblr.com/): [Falling](http://skaritagonehomestuck.tumblr.com/post/9992924571/hey-shinji-i-am-so-satisfied).  
> [Cloudymew](http://cloudymew.tumblr.com/): [Below deck](http://cloudymew.tumblr.com/post/10374473347) and [top side](http://cloudymew.tumblr.com/post/10340541764).

_MARYAM_

 _WHAT IN GOG’S GRUB-FISTING NAME DO YOU MEAN “I’M ON THE MIND SCOURGE WITH THE WITCH-BITCH.”_

 _I LET YOU LEAVE WITH HER AND NOT EVEN THREE WEEKS LATER YOU’RE ON THE MOST NOTORIOUS FUCKING GAMBLIGNANT SHIP ON THE SEA? WHAT THE FUCK. AND WHAT HOOFBEAST SHIT ARE YOU SAYING ABOUT MEETING THE WITCH-BITCH’S FRIEND AND BEING SAFE BECAUSE OF HIM?_

 _YOU’RE ON VRISKA FUCKING SERKET’S SHIP, YOU DUMBASS. THERE IS NO BEING SAFE, AND THERE’S SURE AS FUCK NO BEING SAFE IN THE CAPITOL CITY. I SWEAR TO GOG I AM GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS FOR BEING SO INCREDIBLY IDIOTIC THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU._

 _BE CAREFUL, IDIOT._

 _ALSO, I’M DOING FINE, THANKS FOR ASKING._

 _—KARKAT_

“You knew he’d be angry.”

“I admit I’m not surprised by the level of vitriol.”

“Then why are you sitting around rereading it and moping?”

“I could just as easily ask why you do nothing but lie there in that suspended rest sack.”

Rose did not lift her head; did not tilt up the hat covering her face; and did not open her eyes. “Because I despise this boat and all other boats in existence, and remaining in the hammock helps cut down on my seasickness. My issue is entirely physical, while yours dwells in the realm of pouty broads and their mopey horseshit. Why are you so bothered by his reply?”

Kanaya was silent. Theirs was a small private cabin on the Mind Scourge: they had only a single chair atop which she sat, a small table to act as a desk, and a recuperacoon tucked in one corner. John had replicated his own hammock the first day for Rose’s sake, and hammered in nails to set up its hanging along the wall most opposite the recuperacoon. For the three days and nights they had been aboard, she had left its cocoon fewer than ten times. One leg dangled partway free of the canvas; her pale bare foot was almost hidden in the shadow cast by the lantern sitting on the desk.

“Kanaya.”

She looked up to see that Rose had turned her head slightly, one eye open. “What?”

“Why are you upset?”

A small sigh left her as she looked at the book on the desk and the untidy scrawl on the open page. She passed her thumb slowly over Karkat’s signature. “I feel guilty, I suppose.”

“About what?”

She drummed her fingers once on the page before gesturing at the words. “I’ve admonished him for sweeps about leading a dangerous and reckless lifestyle, and he always dismissed my statements by arguing that it was inevitable given his circumstances. Now we’re sitting at opposite ends from where we once were, and I’m left dismissing _his_ arguments about this being a dangerous course for _me_.”

A pause. “I guess that makes sense.” She turned her head back to the safe darkness of her hat, grimacing at the way the room tilted and the ship groaned. “The only thing left for you two is to stop trying to tell each other off. You both can’t stop living like this. Not now.”

Kanaya closed her mouth. After a moment, she said, “May I ask you something?”

“Yes, but my responding to it is conditional on my willingness to answer while my stomach is churning.”

“Did your mother ever try to dissuade you from practicing alchemy?”

The silence lasted through two more creaking shifts of the ship. “My conditions haven’t been met.”

She frowned. “It’s a very simple question to answer. All you have to say is yes or no.”

“Fine. Yes, she did try to dissuade me.”

A pause. “Why?”

The frown on her face was deep enough to see past the brim of her hat. “I just said my conditions haven’t been met. I’m not willing to discuss this.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’ve been seasick repeatedly and I have no desire to risk more vomiting with as much talking as such an answer would necessitate.”

“And yet you’re responding with a great deal of wordiness.”

“We’re not going to discuss this.”

“Give me a real answer as to why.”

“Because I’m not going to discuss it, end of story.”

“Rose, if you would just—”

“ _No_ , Kanaya.”

She sat back. Rose had curled in on herself, arms crossed tight over her stomach and chin tucked to her chest. The frown had become a scowl, and it made the muscles of her neck tighten to see it. She took to her feet and went to the door. “I’m going to the main deck.”

She turned her head away. “Fine.”

For a moment, she stood with her hand on the doorknob. When she left, it was without looking back. Though she stumbled slightly with the swaying of the ship, she made her way to the steep ladder that led upward. It was dark with the night outside, and a sharp, brisk wind hissed through her hair the moment her head emerged from below deck. She climbed up and out, walking gingerly along until she stood with her hands on the railing at the ship’s edge.

The Mind Scourge cut through the sea, the water breaking and rolling away with sputters and hisses. Above, the moons were reduced to crescents that gave up little blended light. She still saw the broken shards that flickered and vanished in the waves, and stared at them in their births and deaths for a long time. A sudden bang on the boards of the deck made her jump; the sight of Vriska straightening from her landing after leaping off the flying bridge high above made her wince. Her legs wanted to carry her back down the ladder when Vriska approached with a smirk. She managed to keep her place and turned back to look at the sea.

“Well,” Vriska murmured in her ear. “I’m surprised a little land dweller that’s never seen the sea before in her life is doing so well on my ship.” She snickered. “Not barfing everywhere like your human pet, anyway.”

She whipped her head about, taking a step back when she realized how close Vriska stood at her side. “My—my _what_? Rose is no such thing.”

A measured laugh: eight puffs of amused air released from her mouth. “Please. How could she not be? She’s human.”

“By that logic, you must consider John your pet, not your matesprit.”

She grinned and leaned against the railing, hip against the wood and weight braced on one elbow. “John’s no ordinary human. He’s stronger than a lot of trolls—he even stands his ground better than some. Very forceful, very direct. Never afraid to fight. I wouldn’t make a pet my first mate, and I got sick of playing redrom games with weaklings _sweeps_ ago.”

“You’ve only ever known John. Why would you sat he’s not an ordinary human if he’s the only one you know?”

“Because he told me all about normal humans when I asked if there was anyone else like him. Even though he acts modest, he’s above the rest. And he’s better than _her_ by far.”

Kanaya frowned. At first, it was a response so natural she did not notice it. When her thoughts solidified, she turned her lips down further by choice. “Rose isn’t John. It doesn’t make sense to compare them.”

“ _Ooooooooh_ , defending your pet now? Do you fight all her battles for her?”

“She is no one’s pet, much less mine. From what I’ve seen of both of them, neither is superior to the other.”

“John’s never been seasick.”

She sighed. “I don’t know if I’ve heard a more petty rejoinder.” She looked away, ignoring the way Vriska’s face hardened. “You’re not going to convince me of his superiority. If anything, I believe she’s a better alchemist based on what I’ve witnessed.”

Vriska looked at her with one brow raised. Her mouth seemed to be deciding whether to sneer or smirk. Eventually, she settled on the latter. “Well. I don’t know how good she is at alchemy, but John really is _soooooooo_ much better in a lot of ways. Brave, strong, funny in a silly dumb boy way, very attentive to his _beauuuuuuuutiful_ matesprit. But you know what he’s not that great at?”

Kanaya did not respond. For her silence, Vriska took hold of her chin with one hand and caught her round the waist with her other arm. Her eyes widened at the way Vriska leaned close. Their noses nearly touched.

Her voice was a soft murmur when she said, “He’s not very good at hating. Did you see how _bright_ she is when she hates? I didn’t think a human would be that _pretty_ , but when she has fire in her eyes?” She chuckled, tapping Kanaya’s chin with her thumb. “I thought she was going to blow my brains out with that fancy gun of hers.”

“I have seen her hating, yes. And I do not think that it would be the safest thing to be on the receiving end of such viciousness.”

A scoff. “You’re pathetic. Who wouldn’t want such a sharp woman as their kismesis? If you could make her focus on you, you’d probably have a kismesissitude for the ages.”

“I would not want Rose as my kismesis.”

Her eyes closed partway. Her smile remained firmly in place, and she chuckled again. “Coward.”

“It’s not cowardice. Regardless of my belief that hers is a dangerous kind of hatred, I have no reason to hate her. I refuse to hate her.”

“ _Ohhhhhhhh_?” She tightened her hold on Kanaya, pulling her flush against her. “That’s interesting. If you’re not going to hate her...and she’s not your little pet...what is she?”

Vriska’s hand was cool, nearly cold with the blue blood in her veins. The wind made her hair swirl around them. Kanaya was terribly aware of the curves pressed against her, hidden beneath the long coat. She swallowed hard and said, “My traveling companion.”

“Oh, come _oooooooon_ , little fussyfangs. I saw the way you jumped in front of her during our fight. Are you pale for her?”

“I have a moirail, and I have no interest in being unfaithful.”

“Why are you traveling with her, then? Why is a human important to you?”

“I’m traveling with her to be assured of the killing of the monster that slaughtered my lusus. Why is _this_ important to _you_?”

Her blue-painted lips parted with her smirk, showing her fangs. She shrugged with a small sigh. “I just want to get to know John’s friends. Since you’re the one not throwing up, I’m asking you. Not to mention the fact that you’re one who doesn’t want to put a bullet between my eyes, so you’re more likely to talk. Is that so wrong, wanting to get to know you two?”

She looked up at the other woman for a long while. With the smirk in place, it was impossible to not think of their first meeting and the wild grin painted with blue blood. There had been no patron to her hostelry with such a level of confidence, much less such audacity. Her heart beat once; she realized that, however impossible it was to divide the image of Vriska from her loud sass and massive smirks, it was far more impossible to divide the image of the angry woman below deck from her quiet intensity and rare smiles. She put her hand on Vriska’s chest and pushed her away.

“No,” she said, “it’s not wrong. I’ve answered your questions. If you’d like to ask others, you’re free to do so. But I’m not going to play a double reacharound game to answer the same questions over and over.”

She rolled her eyes, and Kanaya saw the seven tiny pupils and blue irises in her left. “All right. If you’re going to be so defensive about your little pet, I’ll leave it alone for now.”

For a moment, she nearly spat back a decrying response. It was when she noticed a touch in her mind trying to push the words from her mouth that she ground her reply to nothingness between her teeth. There was disappointment on Vriska’s face, lips pouted slightly. She murmured, “I would appreciate that.”

With a long-suffering sigh, Vriska tossed back her hair, lifted her hands, and shrugged. “Have it your way.” She turned away, waving one hand over her shoulder as she started off. “Make sure not to fall in, fussyfangs. I don’t like dealing with overboard passengers.” She did not return to the quarterdeck, instead unlocking the door to the captain’s quarters and disappearing inside.

Mouth dry, shoulders tense, Kanaya stared at the closed door and dark windows for a long while. When the door opened suddenly a minute later, she started. It was not Vriska who emerged, but a sleepy-looking and bed-headed John. He adjusted his glasses, peering around the deck until he spotted her. He grinned broadly and strode toward her after closing the door behind him.

“Hey there, Miss Kanaya!” he said. “Vriska told me to come talk to you!”

She frowned. “About what?”

He blinked at her expression. With a small sigh, he scratched at the stubble on his chin. “She said you were being kinda stuffy, if you want to know the truth.” He chuckled. “But usually when she says that she’s done something. Did something happen between you two? I’m not her auspistice or anything, but I’m pretty good at patching things up.” He drummed a fist in the air. “Hammer and all that.”

“Why are you here?” Kanaya sighed.

“Uh...‘cause my captain told me to work my silly dumb boy charm on you?”

“No, why are you on this ship? Why are you—” She stopped, waving a hand to dismiss the words. “How did you come to be first mate of the Mind Scourge? I’ve heard nothing but horror stories about it _and_ its captain, and you don’t seem the gamblignant type.”

He sighed out a hum and began to roll up his disheveled sleeves. “Well...to be honest? I _did_ want to be a pirate when I was little.”

“A what?”

He grinned, putting his hands on the back of his head and stretching. “A pirate. That’s the human equal of a gamblignant. All swords and swashbuckling and adventure. All my favorite books were about pirates and cowboys and dramatic heroes.”

“Gamblignants aren’t exactly heroes.”

“They can be. Back when we first met, Vriska didn’t do anything worse than wreck ships and plunder their loot. A lot of the stories are just from people off those ships, and they always make things sound worse because they’re mad.”

“What of the stories I’ve heard tell about your participation in the slave trade?”

John sighed, putting on an affronted face and adding a pout for good measure. “Miss Kanaya, I made sure you didn’t get snatched by a slaver! Do you think I’d let my captain deal in slaves?”

“How do you explain the stories, then?”

“Vriska tells them wrong.”

Kanaya stared at him.

“She wants to make sure no one thinks she’s going soft. She never really cared about slaves to begin with, unless she was messing with her kismesis about it. But even then it was her taking his slaves away and setting them free to make him mad. Now that I’m here, though?” He grinned. “We take down slave ships whenever we come across them.”

A pause. “If you’re not doing it to steal their slaves, why would you do that?”

For a moment, it looked as though there was angry disbelief in his eyes. The moment passed; he sighed heavily. “Right, I forgot. Trolls.”

She bristled. “What is that supposed to mean?”

He held up his hands. “Not anything bad, Miss Kanaya, don’t be mad. All I mean is that _I’m_ the one who doesn’t have the normal thinking here. Slavery is regular on Alternia, but it’s not on Earth.” He paused. “Well, I think it isn’t. But I think it _shouldn’t_ be, and that’s why I convinced Vriska to take down slave ships and let the slaves go free.”

“You intend to end the slave trade. Out of what seems to be the same sense of needing to do right that Rose has.”

A pause. “I’d sure be happy if it ended. If I can do something to help folks in trouble, I will.”

She stared at him a moment longer. “I feel I should introduce you to my moirail. He’s gone on screaming rants about how highbloods are unjustly oppressing lowbloods through slavery.”

“I’d love to meet him! He sounds like a great guy!”

“Karkat is a great many things.” She sighed. “But...I am astonished that you convinced a blue blood to allow you your crusade.”

He laughed. “Being her matesprit helps me convince her a lot!”

“May I ask you something?”

“Why I’m matesprits with her, right?”

She opened her mouth to reply with an emphatic negative, but the eyebrow he raised and the small smirk on his face made her flush jade and close her mouth.

“It’s okay,” John said. “She’s gotten that about me way more than once.”

“I’ve heard her reasoning as to why she’s taken you for a matesprit. She was quite flattering.”

He grinned boyishly, rocking back and forth on his heels. “Well, I don’t know what she could have said, but I’m glad it was nice.”

“Then...why did you take her as your matesprit?”

For a moment, he was quiet. He lifted one hand and ticked off his fingers as he spoke. “She’s adventurous, she’s brave, she actually really cares about stuff even though she acts like she doesn’t, she’s kinda funny in that sarcastic way Rose has, she’s sweet to me, and she’s _really_ pretty.”

Kanaya looked away. She murmured, “I am quite aware of that last part.”

John blinked. He patted his fist in his palm. “I forgot! Trolls do that!”

“Do what?”

“Like people the same sex as them! It’s pretty rare back on Earth. We don’t have quadrants like trolls, either.”

She looked at him once more; her head drew back. “You...aren’t ever attracted to people of the same gender?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure some folks were. I just didn’t really hear anything about them.”

“Why wouldn’t you be attracted?”

“Humans can only have kids if it’s a guy and a girl. That’s how most of us get raised, so that’s what we think is normal.” He shrugged. “I don’t really care, so you shouldn’t really worry about it.”

“Oh.” She turned slowly away. She took a deep breath, and spoke quietly with its exhale. “Thank you. That’s informative.”

He tilted his head to one side. He shuffled one foot forward after a moment. “Miss Kanaya? Did you want to—”

She cut him off. “I just realized you’ve reminded me of something I wanted to ask. The reason I’m up here in the first place is because Rose and I had a disagreement of sorts. It was regarding her mother and alchemy. Are you able to tell me anything about why she would be so reluctant to discuss the topic?”

“Oh.” He looked into the dark sky. He frowned; he rubbed at his chin. He grumbled and moved to lean on the railing with his elbows. “I don’t really know.”

“You don’t know.”

“Honest to God, Miss Kanaya. I never really understood what was going on with Missus Lalonde and Rose. They didn’t seem to get along at all. I felt bad for Rosie, but she wouldn’t say anything to me or Jade. I don’t even know if she talked to Dave about anything aside from alchemy and what we did.”

She hesitated, but moved to stand at his side and put her hands on the railing. “What did you do?”

He went silent. A groove was found in the wood; he dug the nail of his thumb into it. “Rose wouldn’t want us to say it like this, but I think it’s sort of fitting. We sinned, Miss Kanaya.”

“In creating Jack Noir? That was an accident that resulted from your...failed...alchemy.”

He laughed weakly, and his smile was just as weak. “Got it in one.”

“Oh.”

With a sigh, he folded his hands together and began to twiddle his thumbs. “Um...Miss Kanaya?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t...I don’t think I can really talk about this. Any of it, kinda. It makes me think about my dad, and it still hurts way too much to do that. And if you’re trying to figure out what Rose’s problems are, I’m not the person to ask.”

She looked at the water. “I know. I only hoped that you could give me some insight, as she steadfastly refuses to answer anything I ask of her.”

From the corner of his eyes, he looked at her. “Can I ask _you_ something now?”

“All right.”

“Why are you so interested in Rosie?”

A sigh. “Because I would like to know the person I’m traveling with. Why?”

A pause. “I guess...I’m surprised that you’re not going along with Rose just to take off Noir’s head.”

“Why is that strange?”

“All the trolls I ever met before Vriska didn’t want much to do with me, and I think she only really noticed me because we helped each other in a fight and my alchemy caught her eye. But it’s not just a troll thing—a lot of humans never really take the time to get to know people. So...” A long pause. “I think I’m trying to say I’m happy you’re traveling with her.”

“Happy? Why happy?”

He chuckled. “Come on, Miss Kanaya. You should know better than most folks why she _should_ be traveling with someone. I’m pretty sure she gets lonely, even if she never says it. And the way she acted when I got her on my shoulders and brought her out of the saloon?” His chuckle became a full-fledged laugh. “She cares about what you think! That’s pretty new for her!”

“It...is?”

“Yep!” He patted her on the shoulder. “She made a friend, and it’s you! That’s really great!” He lifted his hand, blinking and staring into the sky suddenly. When he looked back, it was with a grin. “Hey, I remembered why I wanted to talk to you!”

“You said Vriska told you to.”

“No, no— _I_ wanted to talk to you. It’s about Rosie being so seasick. Here, follow me.” Tugging gently at her wrist, he brought her below deck, bustling her into the ship’s galley. With the earliness of the night, there was no one within to bark at John when he banged around the cabinets and fumbled with jars. Eventually, he gave a laugh. “Ha! Knew we had some left!”

“What?”

“Ginger!” He extracted himself from the cabinets, holding a small dark jar in one hand. He held it out to her, giving it a small shake to let sound the contents. “I made some little ginger tablets when I agreed to be first mate, but I didn’t ever need them. I forgot we had them, but they should help Rose feel better and stop throwing up so much!”

She took the jar carefully, clutching it protectively when the ship swayed and threatened to take her from her feet. With a poise belied by his frame, John kept his balance and held her steady. He snickered, patting her on the shoulder once more. “You go ahead and give those to Rosie. Maybe I’ll finally get her to play her violin when she feels better. I’m pretty sure you’d like it.”

They parted ways at the ladder to the main deck: John waved as he clambered gracefully up, and Kanaya returned the wave as she went back to the cabin. She opened the door slowly, but there was no helping the creak from the worn hinges. The lantern was still alight; Rose had not moved an inch. It almost seemed she was sleeping; her quiet groan at a tilting of the ship betrayed her.

“I’ve returned,” Kanaya said.

“I hadn’t noticed,” Rose grumbled.

She frowned. Sighing she strode to stand at the hammock’s side. She lifted the hat from Rose’s face in tiny increments. When she was looked at, she spoke. “I met with—John on deck. He offered me a remedy for your seasickness. Would you like to try it?”

Skepticism filled her eyes. “What is it, exactly?”

“He called it ginger. I’m unsure of what it is, but he was quite adamant that it would work.”

A pause. She sighed and lifted a hand. “Could you get me the canteen? Please?”

“Of course.” She did as she was asked, returning swiftly and opening the jar. She tipped a tablet into her free hand and offered up both that and the canteen in short order. They were taken and consumed, and Rose gave up the canteen with a grimace.

“God, I hope that works.”

“John hopes very much for your recovery.” She took her place atop the chair, crossing her legs at the ankles. “He wants you to play your violin.”

“He always does.”

A long silence. Kanaya studied her hands. A brief, painful desire filled her: her fingers itched to feel a sewing needle in their grasp. She took a deep breath, pressed her fingertips together, and looked up. She quietly asked, “May I ask you something?”

“Kanaya, _no_. I already told you that I’m not willing to discuss the topic you brought up before.”

“It’s not about that.” She closed her eyes; she took another breath. “I’m curious...about your mother.”

The silence reappeared.

“I don’t mean to pry about your efforts in alchemy.” She gestured at the ceiling. “John was distraught at the mention of it, and I realized it’s rude to demand information about something that’s clearly painful. It’s...unfair.” She paused. “I don’t want to be unfair or rude to you, Rose. But I am very curious about you—your life. And your mother seems to play a very large part in your past.”

She blinked and gave a small laugh. “I’m still not completely sure what a ‘mother’ is, to tell you the truth. So. In order to be fair to you, I would very much like to...understand you. If that’s all right.”

She was completely still.

“But I understand if you don’t want to discuss it. I’ll do my best to avoid being rude from now on.”

The faint light would not have been enough for human eyes in that moment, but Kanaya could easily spot the twitch in Rose’s jaw. It relaxed, as did her shoulders. She murmured, “Okay. What do you want to know?”

She looked at her hands. “What is a ‘mother’? What is she supposed to do? To...mean?”

A tiny scoff came with the turning of Rose’s head. “I didn’t think you would be so existential, Miss Maryam.”

“Given that trolls have no equivalent relationship, I don’t know if I’d call it existential on my behalf.”

“Touché.” She looked at Kanaya a moment longer before returning to her properly supine position. She brought her hat to rest on her stomach, blinking slowly and barely opening her eyes. “A mother—any parent, really—is there to raise their children. Our fathers sire us, our mothers birth us, and their duty is to teach us how to live and survive as adults in our own right.”

She drummed her fingers on the hat’s brim. “For my mother, raising me was a fairly solitary task. I’ve never known my father. Even though they tried their hardest, I never considered Misters Egbert or Harley to be a father figure. While I studied alchemy under Mister Harley, I originally became interested in it because of Mother.” She paused, blinking once. “It would be best to say I was covetous of it.”

“Covetous?”

A moment passed; she lifted one hand to open her fingers and reach up. “I wanted so badly to possess that same ability. I wanted to be as sure of everything as she seemed to be. All children grow up thinking their parents know everything in the world...until they reach a certain age. She started teaching me alchemy when I was around eight, and I started questioning her at thirteen.”

“What caused you to start?”

“I wanted to know if God was real. She couldn’t answer me.” She closed her hand, turning it slowly so her thumb was angled toward her face. “And if my mother couldn’t tell me if God was real, then how could she know everything? It was strange...and frightening to think that there were things she didn’t know. I was so sure that she would always be able to answer me about anything. That’s when I started looking for answers on my own in alchemy.”

“You sought proof of the existence of God?”

“Why not? Mister Harley proved there’s a universal constant of perpetual energy. If he could do that, surely I could prove the existence of one god.” She frowned; she brought her hand to her chest and opened it once more to look at her palm. “And that’s when my mother began to act differently.”

She could not place the expression on Rose’s face, and leaned forward in her chair to see it better. “How so?”

A pause. “Jade and John received praise daily, and in large amounts. There was never any doubt that their guardians were utterly proud of their accomplishments, no matter how big or small. My mother was never one to dole out compliments, but she started to...belittle my efforts, I think, is the best way to put it. No matter what I did, no matter what I produced or manipulated or theorized, she would only ever smile and pat me on the head. And she would always tell me that surely there was something else for a budding young woman to do aside from alchemy.”

Her eyes found the floor to help focus her thinking. She looked back up. “Alchemy was the only thing you were interested in?”

“Why wouldn’t it be? It was the only thing that made sense to me, growing up. I wanted knowledge, and alchemy gave it to me when nothing and no one else could provide it. Mother eventually tried to fully turn me away from alchemy. She said she knew I was talented, that I’d surpassed her long ago, and that I could and should stop while I was ahead. Then...everything happened. Then she died because of Noir. Because I didn’t listen to her, I suppose.”

Silence. “Do you feel guilty?”

“I am sorry that she died. I miss her. I remain frustrated that she never seemed to respect my efforts once I questioned her.” She closed her eyes. “I do wonder, sometimes, if that makes me a bad daughter. But then I wonder if she was a bad mother for making me feel this way.”

She rubbed at one of her knees. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I don’t know what a ‘daughter’ is meant to do. And I’m hardly qualified to judge if a mother has done right or wrong by their children.” She swallowed and breathed. “The only thing I can think of to say is that I’m sorry.”

Her eyes opened; she turned to look at Kanaya. “Why would you say that?”

“I must admit that it makes me conflicted to see you so lacking in cheer like this. It’s charming that you’re seeking to do right—I’ve told you that. But this makes you...sad. And I’m sorry that it does.”

Rose scoffed. “Are you trying to say you’re sorry for asking? Because you don’t have to be. I answered freely.”

“I suppose.”

Her tiny smirk faded into an equally small frown. “Kanaya, don’t feel badly about this. You asked in the interest of avoiding being rude in the future, and I wouldn’t have told you this if I felt too uncomfortable about it.” A silence. “Don’t feel bad. Please.”

Very quietly, she sighed. She looked down. “As long as it doesn’t bother you.”

Because she looked away, she did not see the fracture in Rose’s eyes. She did not see the way her jaw worked, and she did not see how her tongue wetted her lips when she finally turned away.

“It doesn’t,” Rose murmured, and returned the hat to her face.

\-------

It began with an enormous _bang_ , horrific shredding of wood and metal, and a wild rattle of the ship.

Kanaya started awake, paddling her hands in the sopor slime in growing panic. She sat up and clambered free of the recuperacoon with Rose’s name spilling from her mouth. The door to their cabin was hanging open, and the deckhands thundered by with orders barked down the line. Properly conscious, she was briefly aware of a wicked whistle before another bang ripped through the ship. Though the walls did not break around her, she could not help but crouch down and put her hands tight over her ears.

The panic did not subside in the slightest, but took on a cold edge that cut through to her mind. She hurried to the bag, reaching inside to pull free three things. The first was a clean shirt; the slimed undershirt was shucked and the green blouse pulled on. The second, after some hesitation, was the pair of jeans Rose had insisted upon alchemizing for her. Slipping into them felt even stranger than waking to cannon fire and shouting, but she put up with it. The third was her chainsaw, and she hurried after the deckhands.

It was ordered chaos on deck. Vriska stood atop the flying bridge in nothing but a billowing white shirt and blue trousers, issuing orders in a voice that roared down the enemy cannons. They were caught up in a great fog and clouds of smoke; Kanaya was only able to divine the presence of another ship by the hellish red-orange flashes of the cannons firing. Lean trolls scurried up the ratlines, jamming torches in sconces along the masts and lighting them. The firelight reflected from the fluttering sails, bathing the ship and the mist at once in brightness.

“You know what to do!” Vriska shouted.

Kanaya turned. Rose and John stood at opposite ends of the main deck, right and left respectively, weapons drawn. John, dressed in his waistcoat and pants, was atop the railing, holding tight to a ratline with one hand and spinning his oversized hammer in the other. Rose, in jeans and untucked shirt, did the same with one Thorn, but her face was pale and her eyes wide.

“Ready!” John barked. A cacophonous response came to him. Trolls stood by their chosen cannons, all primed and ready for the spark. John held up his hammer. “Steady! Steady!”

An echo came through the mist.

The cry of “ _Now_!” came in unison from Vriska and John, and the deckhands moved. They lit the cannons, and a broad-shouldered troll heaved a cannonball in the air before John. He grunted, swung his hammer, and shot the ball forward. Before it was lost in the mist, green lightning swelled around the iron. When it vanished, only the flashes of light told of how it suddenly shattered. Metal shrieked upon itself, and the cannon fire from the Mind Scourge surged forth. In the distance, there was wood shattering and voices howling in pain.

An enemy shot smashed into the railing at the farthest end of the quarterdeck, sending shrapnel flying. Vriska leaned on her own railing and screamed, “I told you to shoot down what gets through, alchemist! Do your fucking job!”

Rose’s head whipped about to face her, but she wobbled where she stood when the ship was rocked by a wave. Kanaya darted forward, pushing past deckhands to put a hand on Rose’s hip and steady her. She met Rose’s eyes when she spun halfway about. There was a strange blankness in her gaze, her lips slightly parted. Kanaya swallowed hard and nodded at her.

“Reload, men!” John shouted. “Reload!” He looked at his fellow deckhand, gesturing with his hammer. “Gimme another! While they’re still working on theirs, come on!” He was obeyed immediately, and shouted loudly when he struck the shot. The lightning split the iron once again, but replicated the shot perfectly. Eight cannonballs sped into the mist then, and they brought forth even greater noise from the enemy yet unseen.

Vriska’s voice: “ _Fire_!”

Rose grit her teeth and swung herself forward on her bare heels. She cast lightning to the shots that erupted from the cannons, and they were given siblings as John’s shot before. They were matched, eight for eight for eight, and there was a great clanging and screeching as enemy fire was interrupted and deflected. Another wave of her arm sent lightning to the rare shots that burst free of the mist, and they disintegrated into brilliant violet sparks.

“That’s the way, Rosie!” John cried, a grin on his face. He lifted his arm to gesture in triumph, in support. A crack rang out; he gave a shout as blood spurted from his shoulder. He let go of rope and hammer alike, gripping his shoulder and the hole from which blood flowed as he fell backward.

“ _John_!” Vriska was off the bridge in an instant, and at the man’s side even faster. She heaved him away from the railing, pulling him back to his feet and pushing him against the nearest wall. He grimaced, glasses askew and fogged with the heat of his blood. A curse was spat out when he summoned the hammer and tapped the wound. A green flash faded to reveal healed flesh, and he stepped forward to stand at Vriska’s side.

Rose, transfixed in something that looked like shock on her face, yelped when Kanaya grabbed her by the belt loops and pulled her off the railing. Not a moment later, a grappling hook shot into the air and crashed down on the deck. It was pulled taut and found purchase on the railing. Kanaya wrenched the starter cord and brought down the roaring saw on the rope. It snapped instantly, and there was a wild cry preceding a loud splash. All along the railing, more grappling hooks whipped up and over. Though many of the deckhands hurried forward with their own knives, there was no stopping every troll climbing the ropes.

“Hold them back!” Vriska shouted. She drew a sword from her belt, lifting it high to flash its hooked end in the light. “Help the alchemists bring down the ship! Make sure they’re protected!” She spun on her heels, slashing deep into the chest of a troll that charged headlong at John. The man screamed, clutching at the wound and the dark green blood that poured down his front.

Kanaya pushed Rose back in time to ram her chainsaw into the shoulder of a woman that had crept onto the railing. She swore loudly and pitched backward, yellow blood spraying into the air as she went. More cursing spoke of at least one troll that had tried to catch her and lost their hold on the rope for their troubles. A young man hurried up with cannonballs in his arms, grinning broadly at Rose. She did not hesitate in nodding, and pulled herself back up onto the railing. When a crack rang out from below, she whipped the Thorn down and sent lightning at the bullet aimed for her head. A stab conjured more lightning; a shattering sound responded.

The troll grunted and heaved a shot into the air. She replicated it tenfold, and another wave of her needle sent them flying forth with webs of lightning winding around them. The sound of a chainsaw severing legs from hips did not faze her in the slightest; she shouted for another shot. When it was away, burst into a cloud of shrapnel, she slashed her needle through the air to destroy the return fire. John aided her, knocking shot after shot into the dark as Vriska cut down anyone that dared approach.

There was nothing but noise, noise, _noise_ on deck. That’s why it was more than understandable that no one noticed the faint crunches of more hooks digging into the railing on the opposite side of the deck. That’s why it was more than understandable that no one reacted until another gunshot cracked off and Vriska let out a scream. The deckhands turned as one; John whipped about. With a hole in her side and blue staining her shirt, Vriska stumbled and fell against the wall. She coughed and spat out blood. The troll she had been dueling barked out a laugh and charged forward.

John launched from the railing with a bellow, tackling the man and slamming his hammer down. The sword lifted in defense was shattered; the hand that tried to deflect the hammer was crushed and obliterated. He left the troll writhing on the deck and went to Vriska. All at once, the deckhands turned away from their enemies, abandoned their cannons, and fell upon the trolls that advanced from the other side. The man that had been throwing up shots for Rose nearly joined them, but Rose dropped from the railing to grab the back of his shirt and hold him where he was.

It was because she heard strange noise slipping from Rose’s mouth that Kanaya looked over her shoulder. There was anger twisting Rose’s face: it pulled her brows down and made her neck tense. She barked at the troll, jabbing her needle first at the cannonballs on the deck and then into the mist. He stared a moment, but grinned and nodded. In the moment before they resumed their assault, Kanaya thought there was a dark color invading the skin around Rose’s eyes.

Another troll leaped at her, all bared fangs and swinging cutlass. She caught the sword and pushed the woman back. The shove was turned into a skip backward, and the woman pulled a dagger from her belt to fling it at Kanaya. Still so unused to battle, still so panicked, and with a tiny part of her brain knowing that if she dodged, the dagger had a clear path to Rose, she stood her ground. A grunt left her when the blade pierced her right shoulder, but she bit down hard on the sound. She hurried forward; her effort was rewarded with a look of shock on the woman’s face and a falter of her arms. Those arms were taken off at the elbows, and the woman’s throat was lost to the first deckhand she stumbled into.

There were fewer and fewer blasts of cannon fire. There was no more breaking of wood on the Mind Scourge, purely protected by the Thorns of Oglogoth and their wielder. Rose continued to fire shots into the mist. Continued, that is, until the troll assisting her ran out of cannonballs to provide. She turned to stare at him, but he had been caught up in a duel of his own when he tried to snatch up more shots to give her. He pressed his enemy back, and Kanaya did the same. They joined the greater part of the fray, standing at the swarm’s edge and forcing the enemy to gather toward the center of the deck.

When her latest foe dropped screaming and bleeding onto the deck, Kanaya took the pause to take a step back and pull the knife from her shoulder. Grimacing, panting with the pain, she dropped the knife to the deck. The sight of jade green blood made her eyes widen briefly. That hesitation made a troll, almost as enormous as John and carrying a two handed sword, stomp toward her. She stared, pain and swelling fright driving the knowledge of her still functioning arms and chainsaw straight out of her head.

Lightning blasted the troll’s face. He screamed and dropped the sword to clap his meaty hands over his destroyed eyes. In another burst of lightning, his hands were left without flesh. Another strike: his shoulder splattered teal blood on the nearest troll he stumbled past. Another: he wheezed at the chunk taken out of his stomach. He shuffled backward, head whipping from side to side because he could not imagine where the strikes would come from.

Rose walked slowly past Kanaya, arm straight out and wand at the ready. Her gaze was so completely focused on the troll in retreat that Kanaya could only see the white of her eye. Shadows were heavy on her eyes. She stared; she could not help but take a tiny step backward. The shadows did not follow the flickering of the torches above. They moved in their own time; they _writhed_.

She drew one of her guns from its holster with her free hand and took aim. The troll had reached the other side of the deck, and stood with his back to the railing. She fired. The crack was followed in a heartbeat by the appearance of a hole in the man’s forehead. He crumpled; he folded backward; and he fell over the railing and into the sea. The fight continued. It had no reason whatsoever to take notice and stop. Kanaya hesitated, but reversed her step backward and made to move forward.

“ _Miss Kanaya_!”

A hand clapped down over her mouth; she was wrestled backward.

Rose began to turn.

A knife plunged into her side and slipped between her ribs; her head snapped back because her throat was denied the ability to scream.

Rose finished her turn.

Choking, eyes burning, Kanaya looked at Rose in desperation as she was dragged back even further. She thought she couldn’t see the violet of her eyes, the white was so bright with how wide her eyes grew. The moment passed when they hit the railing. The shadows regained normalcy and Rose’s jaw dropped.

The blast of cannon fire was lost in the grand shattering of wood beneath them. Great splinters whirled up around them, and Kanaya felt at least one stab into her thigh. They pitched backward and began their fall. The troll that had captured her fell away with cursing and flailing; he left the knife in her side. All she could think to do was try to reach out, reach out for something, someone. The light of the torches diminished when she fell into the shadows of the ship, and her eyes snapped shut when her back slammed onto the water.

Sinking in silence. The water was excruciatingly cold. It soaked her clothes instantly; it felt as though the chill oozed into her from the wound in her side. As she sank, she opened her eyes. She had been born a land dweller. Arriving in the port city had been the first time she had ever seen the sea. What a way to die for a desert-born land dweller: drowning in the sea as her body spread jade into the water.

Her head was above water. There was an arm wrapped around her, holding tight beneath her breasts. Splashing, wild splashing that splattered water against her hair and horns.

“No no no _no no_ don’t you fucking _drown on me Kanaya_.”

She heard fingernails, short blunt fingernails, scrabbling on wood. She heard more cursing between the hiss of waves washing into her ears. A wave washed over her head entirely; she began to sink again despite the arm around her. She tried to kick, to move her arms. The stabs kept her paralyzed with pain, and water rushed down her throat when she attempted to breathe in.

She was heaved back up from beneath the waves, pulled up so her back rested against something soft and her head was tucked beneath a chin.

“Breathe breathe breathe Kanaya _please breathe!_ ”

She could not. The sight of the ship wavered in her eyes.

“Grab my hand!”

The water surged around her, trying to suck her back down as she was hauled through the air. She was laid on her back on rocking wood. The sky was growing darker. Her mind knew it was impossible, but it was happening.

“She’s gonna drown, alchemist!”

A hand pushed her soaking hair away from her forehead.

“Use your alchemy, you fucking idiot!”

She started to go deaf; she did not hear the reply.

Dimly, she felt her head being tilted back. Her nose was pinched shut; her mouth was opened. An unsteady flow of air moved through her mouth and down her throat. She did not know if her chest rose. An eternity passed before more air was given to her mouth. Her hands trembled.

Something pushed hard against her stomach, pressing up toward her chest in five quick motions. Her chest shuddered. More air was given unto her, coming twice more before the pressure returned to her abdomen. On the fourth hard push, she seized. She rolled to one side and coughed the water from her lungs. Her hips bumped against something for only a moment. Her shoulder was gripped too tightly; she whimpered amidst her coughing and the grip loosened.

“Hang on I’m sorry just hang on for a little longer.”

The wood shard was pulled from her leg and she gave a small cry. When the knife was pulled out of her side, her voice broke in the scream she let loose. The noise tapered off into weak crying, but she was not allowed to curl into a ball.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry just one more second I promise Kanaya I’ll fix it please just hang on one more second.”

Her eyes shot open at the sudden surges of blistering pain in her leg and her side and her shoulder. There was barely energy left in her to cry out, but she managed a strangled, lingering sob. She coughed again. When the coughing ended, shaking hands came to her face. Slowly, she turned her eyes in time with the turning of her head.

“Kanaya?” There was terror and panic and the tiniest point of hope in Rose’s eyes. Her white-blonde hair dripped water and her clothes were soaked. She swallowed and pushed Kanaya’s hair from her face. “Kanaya, tell me you’re okay.”

Her eyes started to drift closed. “Rose...”

“No no no wait _wait_ don’t do that _please don’t pass out on me_!”

She smiled as she did.

\-------

She woke up in pain. She choked and coughed with it, and again on the taste of dried seawater in her mouth.

“Kanaya?”

She opened her eyes. She was in the cabin again. The lantern sat alight on the desk as it always seemed to be, but there was no one occupying the chair. She was not in the recuperacoon, instead lying upon a collection of sleeping mats and beneath two or three copies of the covers. Her clothes were dry, as was her hair. She looked to the side from which she had heard the voice, and found Rose.

She, by comparison, was damp and bedraggled. She shoved herself away from the wall she sat against, moving to kneel at Kanaya’s side. For a moment, she reached out as if to touch her face. She brought her hand back to her lap. “Are you all right?”

“Aside from the pain, I believe so.”

She looked away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to use alchemy on you, but I thought you would—I had no choice.”

“I’m not angry at you.” She smiled and brought a hand out from beneath the covers. Gently, she set her hand atop Rose’s. “Thank you.”

“For—what, no, don’t thank me.”

“Why wouldn’t I thank you? You saved my life.”

“You—you saved mine first—all the time I was using alchemy you were right there behind me.”

She managed to chuckle. “Was it just repaying the favor?”

Something very small broke in her eyes. She pulled away her hand, moved away herself, and sat just out of reach staring at Kanaya’s face. “No. It was not.”

Silence. A deep, long silence. She sat up slowly, waving away the protest she could see building in Rose’s face. Putting a hand on her once wounded side, she moved to lean against the wall behind her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“You once called me an abominable liar. I am tempted to use your words against you. Please tell me what’s wrong.”

The silence that came appeared visibly. It took hold of her throat and made her look away.

“Rose, please.”

She took a deep, wavering breath. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“If I hadn’t—if I hadn’t done so many things, none of this would have ever happened to you. If I hadn’t started listening tonight. If I hadn’t started learning alchemy in the past. If I hadn’t become so damnably arrogant and proud years ago. If I just hadn’t fucking _done it_. But I did all of it, and now here we are with you having nearly drowned because of me.” Her face went smooth, and it made it painful to hear the laugh that came out of her mouth. “What a colossal fucking joke. I still haven’t even told you what the hell I’m babbling about.”

“Then please do.”

A pause. She put her hands in her hair, still damp from the water, and rubbed at her head. She returned her hands to her lap. “You said you asked John about why I’m so reluctant to talk about my mother trying to turn me away from alchemy. What did he tell you?”

“All he would say is that you sinned.”

Her lips curled up, but the expression was far removed from a smile. “That makes sense, in some ways. Especially if we focus it properly and say I sinned.”

“Why only you?”

“Because I’m the one that convinced everyone to try to perform resurrection. I did that because I wanted to do what my mother couldn’t: disprove God.”

“How would a resurrection accomplish that?”

“If you could bring someone back from the dead, then they would have the answer of what waits for us after death. They would be able to tell us where a soul goes, and if there’s any sort of god waiting to bless or condemn.” She stared at one hand. “I wanted that knowledge so badly for years. Not for any noble reason like Dave wanting to negate the murders his brother committed for the _camorra_ , or a loving reason like John and Jade wanting to see their mother one more time. I had no reason to perform this alchemy beyond my own hubris—beyond wanting to surpass my mother—and I held the theory and its possibilities in front of my friends to get their help in researching and perfecting the formulae.”

She took a breath, pressing her thumb and forefinger together. “My mother tried to convince me to stop when she learned that I was trying to perform resurrection. She told me it was a sin, and an impossible thing on top of that. She said I would be putting my friends in danger. I didn’t believe her at all. I just continued making my plans and got angry at her for implying I couldn’t handle a feat I found so simple.

“And then we were finally prepared to perform our little blasphemy. We were going to do what I promised John and Jade—bring their mother back. Our guardians, tipped off by my mother, broke in on our soiree. They didn’t try to interrupt us physically, but they screamed at the top of their lungs to try to talk us out of it. I didn’t even look at them. I just kept watching the transmutation circle because I knew it would work.”

“It didn’t,” Kanaya murmured.

“On the contrary. My original reason for doing this was because I wanted to disprove God—the God that was so widely preached—and I _succeeded_.” A bitter smile. “I just proved the existence of _other_ gods in doing so.”

“What other gods?”

“The Elder Gods, rulers of the deep and the beyond and devourers of dead souls. That’s what they told me, anyway.”

“They...told you this? When?”

“When my alchemy did exactly what they wanted it to, which was to open a gateway between the world of mortals and the realm of the Gods.” She paused, rubbing her fingertips together. “They said they’re always very interested in mortals who dabble in matters beyond their control and understanding. They say it’s because we make the best speakers. They’re always on the lookout for speakers. They want mortals to know that their religions and philosophies amount to nothing more than tiny attempts at comforting themselves in the face of oblivion, and so they seek out speakers to spread the knowledge of their existence.”

“And so—they made you and your friends their speakers?”

“No.”

“But—”

“Not my friends.”

Silence. She found she had stopped breathing.

“The end result of alchemy that tries to retrieve a dead soul is the opening of a path between the alchemist and the Elder Gods. They tried very hard to make me their speaker.”

“Did they not succeed?”

“No. Thanks to the efforts of my mother, who I am told stepped in when I started screaming in tongues and somehow broke the connection. This, of course, displeased the Gods. That is how we came to be on Alternia: it was our punishment for defiance. That is how Jack Noir was created: the fallout of our arrival was so tainted with the energies of the Elder Gods it spawned a monster. That is why you have suffered tremendous loss and pain: because I was consumed with arrogance and pride.” She let out a tiny puff of air that could have been a laugh, were it not for the twisted expression on her face. “It’s why you’re even being denied rest. I know the nature of my nightmares. They sing to me as often as they can. I know that I scream, and I know that you’ve been trying to calm me down.”

She shook her head slowly. “So that is why I’m sorry, Kanaya. I didn’t explain to you why it is such a horribly foolish idea to accompany me anywhere, much less try to help me in any fashion. And I did it for the worst possible reason.”

“What reason?”

“What else but more selfishness? I wanted to believe that, perhaps, you—you in all your headstrongness and remarkable sympathy—would not despise me if you didn’t know how contaminated I am.” She looked at the floor; she took a deep, wavering breath. “So. I am sorry. I am sorry, Kanaya Maryam, for everything I have done, from drawing my first transmutation circle to my opening a door into hell. But most of all, even though I know there is no adequate way to apologize for it, I am sorry that I’ve hurt you. I only hope you believe me when I tell you I’m being completely sincere about it.”

Silence.

She pried open her mouth once more, unsure if she meant to spit out more apologies. Very suddenly, she was pulled along the floor. She was settled not against the wall as she briefly thought, but against Kanaya’s side. One of Kanaya’s arms wrapped around her shoulders; the hand of the other caught one of hers. She sat in stupid silence, staring at her knees.

“I want you to answer something,” Kanaya said.

She swallowed. “All right.”

“Have you ever caused me physical harm?”

A pause. “What?”

“Have you ever caused me physical harm, yes or no.”

“Performing alchemy on you was painful—I heard you scream—”

“That was a side effect of healing what was likely a fatal wound. It was not you causing me real harm. And the wounds I received in the fight were not ones caused by you. I suffered them from enemies from whom I wanted to protect you. That was my choice, and I do not consider it to be the wrong choice to have made.”

Silence. Rose grit her teeth behind closed lips.

“I accept your apology, but only to assure you that I do not blame you for what’s transpired. I am not angry. I am sad for you.” She tightened her grip. “I want you to understand that.” She brought her hand from Rose’s shoulder, but only to put her fingers in her hair and tilt her head close. “And I would like very much for you to be happy.”

“ _Why_?”

“Because I believe you are person deserving of happiness. And before you try, I’m going to inform you that whatever arguments you concoct in an attempt to discourage my thinking will be ineffective.” Hesitation filled her. She looked down and caught sight of the unreadable expression on Rose’s face and the wideness of her eyes. She took a small breath and pressed her lips gently to her hair. “It’s all right.”

Silence. Rose squeezed her hand and held it close to her chest as she curled in on herself.

“It’s all right,” Kanaya murmured, lips still to her hair. “It’s all right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What? Did you think I wouldn't give in to the delicious temptation of having a sea battle filled with alchemy and violence? That'd be silly.
> 
> Also, I am aware that rescue breathing wasn't developed until the 60s, but I wanted to use it, historical accuracy be damned.


	7. Fiddler's Adagio

It was very carefully that Kanaya left the cabin the next night. The foremost reason for her care was out of the lingering exhaustion and aches. Her thigh stung when she put weight upon it; she loathed to move her once injured shoulder; and her hand drifted to her side no matter how many times she ascertained the lack of a stab wound. It all left her limping, but it was keeping Rose from waking that made her limp as quietly as she could. There was no sudden sound when she closed the door gently, and she smiled with a sigh as she turned away.

Climbing the ladder was a chore she was grateful no one witnessed. By the time she straightened on deck and looked up to the sky, she felt a cold sweat trickling down the back of her neck. Swallowing, taking a deep breath, she looked round. There was almost no evidence of the battle she so clearly recalled. There were no multicolored splatters of blood on the deck; the damage the railings and sails had suffered did not exist. For a moment, she was utterly baffled. She took her hand from her side to rub at her head.

The need to check for bumps was dispelled, however, at the sudden sound of a hammer striking wood. Light streamed up from one side of the ship, and she walked to the railing to look down. A beam extended over the side of the ship, and suspended from the lines rove in the block at its end was a bosun’s chair. John sat in the chair, humming quietly and swaying with his booted feet on the ship. In one hand was his hammer; the other held a lantern level with his head. He paused a moment in his swaying to tap the hammer down. When the lightning faded, he held the lantern high. He dismissed the hammer to hold the lines, and skipped along the wood to examine a great swath of it. Eventually, he nodded, set the lantern between his knees, and put both hands on a line to begin his pull. He paused at the sight of her, but his face broke into a smile.

“Miss Kanaya!” he said. “I didn’t think you’d be out and about so soon!” He hauled himself up within seconds, exhaling loudly as he pulled the rigging in after him. “And in clean clothes, too! How’re you feeling?”

She looked down. “All right.”

“I promise I won’t tell Rosie if you don’t feel great.”

She opened her mouth to refute him, but stopped before he had a chance to raise his brow at her. “I would appreciate that.”

“She _did_ patch you up, right?”

“All my wounds have been closed, yes.” Her hand returned to her side. “I didn’t realize that it still hurts this much despite the healing.”

“Yeah,” he sighed, “you tend to be a little tender after something like that.”

“And yet you have the temerity to conduct what I assume are repairs.”

He blinked. “Temerity?”

“You were shot through the shoulder last night and you’re still climbing around without so much as a night off.”

“Oh!” He laughed, putting his hands in his pockets. “Aw, that’s nothing against you, Miss Kanaya! I just have a lot of mangrit in me. And it’s not like that was the first time I’ve been shot. That was probably the first time you’ve ever gotten hurt like that, and you almost drowned, too.”

“So that did happen.”

“Huh? Don’t you remember?”

“I _was_ stabbed, and I believe I fell off the ship entirely.”

“Right.”

“Could you explain what happened? All I’m certain of is that Rose healed my wounds.”

“Oh, okay.” He set the lantern at their feet and leaned on the railing. “Well, you did fall off the ship. That was the last shot they really fired at us, and you had the bad luck of being right at the edge when it happened. So you and the guy that stabbed you fell off—and then Rosie was _right_ off the deck after you, way faster than anyone else. I don’t think all the chunks of wood finished falling back onto the deck before she was gone. And I would have gone in after you both, except the captain ordered me to stay on deck and take down any of the enemy’s remaining guns. Then she dived in.”

“Vriska came to help us?”

“Yep.”

“But...she said she dislikes dealing with overboard passengers.”

He chuckled. “That’s because she’s the one who goes in first. She always is. She just doesn’t like getting wet.”

“I see. I think.”

“So then she took over one of the dinghies that the other ship sent over with their hands and pulled you and Rose out. She said she thought Rose was really going to let you die, because she wouldn’t use alchemy to get rid of the water in your lungs no matter how much Vriska shouted at her.” He chuckled again, scratching at the stubble that had grown thicker since their last meeting. “But that would have been a bad idea, and Rosie knew it.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s not magic, Miss Kanaya—we can’t just make the water come _out_ of something. The only way to use alchemy to get water out of your lungs would have been to make it change its form—and the only form that would have left your lungs is steam. But you can imagine how bad having a bunch of piping hot steam in your lungs all of a sudden would be, so Rosie didn’t do that.”

“What did she do, then?”

“Um...you know what, I’m not sure. Vriska says she just planted a big wet one on your sopping wet corpse, but that’s not right. You weren’t a corpse.”

“A...she planted what on me?”

“A kiss.”

Her throat slammed shut and she felt heat rush into her face. She whipped her fingers from her side to put both hands over her mouth.

He did not notice; he was smiling and looking the other way. “I think Vriska was just being dramatic. She’s kinda overdramatic sometimes. But either way, Rosie got the water out of your lungs, patched you up, and we hauled you all aboard. After that, me and Vriska went back down in the dinghy with a few of our hands to get over to the enemy ship and capture their captain. I think Rosie just took you back to your cabin and stayed with you, because you guys weren’t on deck when we got back.”

Kanaya put her hands on the railing and looked very carefully at the waves below. There was barely a waver in her voice when she said, “I see.”

John let out a long exhale, but there was nothing but cheer on his face. After a moment, he turned to look at her. “So is Rose doing okay? She wound up doing a lot more alchemy than me. I bet she’s tuckered out.”

“Oh—yes. Yes, she’s all right.”

“I can’t believe you got up here without her trying to keep you in bed. Vriska said she was pretty worried about you, and I’d agree.”

She tried to keep her voice steady, and stumbled over her words for her efforts. “No, she’s—erm, she—we discussed her having rather severe night horrors and I suggested that she rub a little sopor on her forehead before we— _she_ went to bed. It seems to be working, as she didn’t wake up when I left.”

“Wow!” he said. “That’s great! Figures you’d be the one to make up a way to help her sleep!”

She looked up at him, brows rising as her eyes widened. “Why are my efforts the most immediately understandable?”

He blinked and took a hand from his pocket to point at her. “Well, you’re the one who’s traveling with her. Her nightmares probably bug you more than anyone.”

“Oh.” She looked away. “Yes, of course. It makes perfect sense that I would be concerned the most about Rose’s well being if we’re traveling together for such a long period of time.” She nearly let out a sigh. However, she knew it would contain a noise she was not willing to let out into the world, and so shut her mouth tightly.

For a moment, he looked at her with his head faintly tilted. The moment passed; he patted her shoulder as he turned back to the sea. “Anyway, we got the captain of the ship back over here and questioned him about what happened.”

The change of topics was leaped upon with desperation enough to make her ask, “And?” too quickly.

He didn’t notice. “He confessed that he was from the royal fleet, and that him and his crew came out here looking for us.”

“The Mind Scourge specifically?”

“Yep. We’re kinda used to it at this point, but Vriska made him talk. There’s actually a bigger bounty on my head now than there is on Vriska’s.” He snickered. “I feel like I’ve played a big prank on her, so I thought it was pretty funny. But Vriska was pretty pissed and made him talk more. It turns out that there’s actually a bounty on _all_ of us—me and Rose and Jade and Dave. But they’re not actually named, because no one knows their names but us.”

“Why would there be a bounty on your heads?”

“Well, he explained that, too. Jack’s started attacking more places, and the Empress thinks that we’ve got something to do with him because we keep getting mixed up with him. So she’s not wrong, but she thinks we’re helping him or ordering him to do all this stuff.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Right?”

A pause. “And we’re still going to the capitol?”

“Yeah. If the royals are talking about Jack, then we’re definitely going to get more news on him there.” He looked at her with a grin and patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry. Me and Vriska are going to come with you.”

“What? Why would you do that? You’d be abandoning the Mind Scourge.”

“Better that than abandoning you and Rosie. Besides, it’s been a while since we’ve stayed on land longer than how long we need to drop off loot and get really drunk at saloons.”

“Getting extremely drunk is a regular pastime for you?”

“Oh yeah. Vriska’s hilarious when she’s drunk.” He chuckled. “You’ll see.”

“Why?”

“Because we like to have a little shindig before we pull into port.”

“You have an event to carouse and get drunk on board...before you make landfall and carouse and get drunk.”

“Yep.”

She stared at him a few moments before sighing. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to understand gamblignants, no matter how long I keep your company.”

“Aw, you just need to have fun. You and Rosie both, really. But I am _definitely_ going to get her to play her violin during our shindig. We always play music and have a great time.”

A pause. A smile curled her lips; she could do nothing to remove it. “I...look forward to it.”

“You’ll love it! She’s a great fiddler, and she can play a lot of classical music, too!”

She was horrified to realize she could not keep from chuckling and saying, “I already said I’m looking forward to it. You certainly don’t have to espouse Rose’s good qualities to me.”

His grin widened. “The wind’s usually with us, so we’re making good time. We should arrive in a little less than a week.” He patted her on the back. “Why don’t you go ahead and get some more sleep? No one’ll mind if you do. You can tell Rose to keep sleeping too, since she’s probably exhausted even if she’ll never say so.”

“You’re certain it won’t be a bother?”

“Miss Kanaya, you and Rosie don’t have to work at all. I already fixed up the ship, Vriska’s doing just fine and keeping us on course, and the hands that are still alive aren’t hurt too bad. It’s really okay if you rest.”

“All...all right.” She started back toward the ladder below deck. “Until later, John.”

He waved as she went. “’Night, Miss Kanaya!”

She went below, taking her descent slow when pain reasserted itself. For a time, she stood leaning against the ladder and holding her side. The deckhands that passed by, drowsy and yawning with their early waking, did little more to greet her than small nods and brief waves. She did not respond; they did not mind. Eventually, she made her way back to the cabin. For a much longer time, she stared at the closed door. She breathed slowly and somehow managed to not worry her lip with her fangs. When she opened the door, she stopped breathing.

Rose was still asleep, not in her hammock but settled with her back on the wall between the desk and the nest she had made for Kanaya. Her legs were drawn up slightly, arms folded loosely over her stomach. Her hat sat next to her on the side nearest the nest of mats and covers. On her shoulders was her coat, which she had put on at Kanaya’s insistence. Though she did not tremble with her nightmares, though she was no longer wet with the sea, her breathing still wavered and hitched with chill. Her bare feet were certain to be no help against the cold.

She closed the door and leaned back against it. She stared at Rose in the dark, studying the way her head tilted slightly toward the nest. She pressed her lips together and immediately made herself stop. Still holding her breath, she crossed the room and knelt down slowly. Rose did not stir, even when Kanaya took a cover from the nest and gently put it over her. The most she did was mumble vague noise when tucked the cover around her shoulders and legs.

Kanaya told herself very firmly that she didn’t want the sound to be her name. She slipped back beneath the covers. A long time passed where she looked up at Rose’s sleeping face, so rare in its smoothness. The vague lightheadedness and wandering thoughts that came to mind she attributed to her lack of breath. She rolled over quickly and started breathing again. She closed her eyes tight. When she managed to fall asleep, she did so while listening to the sound of Rose breathing deep and slow.

\-------

“ _Helloooooooo_ , alchemist.”

She neither stopped in brushing Maplehoof nor turned around. “I do have a name, Serket.”

“And I have a title, so I think I’ll keep calling you ‘alchemist’ until you use it.”

“Captain.”

“Lalonde.”

“Is there something you needed? I’m actually occupied at the moment.”

She smirked and moved closer. “You know, when I asked little Miss Fussyfangs where you were, she had the funniest reaction.”

“Kanaya has a name as well. Feel free to use it.”

“Whatever. Don’t you want to know how she reacted?”

She lifted a brow as she stroked along the horse’s flanks. “I assume that she told you I was down here taking care of Maplehoof, given that you’re currently here bothering me.”

She stopped behind Rose and leaned down to murmur in her ear. “I asked her where her matesprit was and she went all jade in the face.”

A pause. “Why did you ask her that?”

“Oh, come on _Laloooooooonde_. I saw what happened the other night. You kissed her.” She chuckled. “She already told me she refuses to hate you, so the only person that’d be kissing her is her matesprit.”

“That was not a kiss.”

“You put your lips on hers. How’s it not a kiss?”

“It would be acceptable to call it the kiss of life, as that’s a colloquialism for rescue breathing, which is what I actually did. I did not kiss her.”

“Then why’d she get all freaked out about me calling you her matesprit?”

“Presumably because you embarrassed her by making assumptions based upon my simple actions to resuscitate her from drowning.”

“ _Reeeeeeeeally_?” She curled her fingers over her shoulders, squeezing slightly. “I saw the way _you_ looked at her, Lalonde. Jumping off a ship to rescue someone who’s not your matesprit and then giving her something you’re calling the kiss of life? I think you’re _trying_ to make it simple.”

“Serket, what do you want?”

“Oh, nothing really, I guess.” She let go of her shoulders only to cross her arms, set them on her back, and lean hard against her. The fact that Rose was forced to stop brushing entirely to hold herself up on Maplehoof made her grin. “So you two don’t have a matespritship?”

“Why do you care?”

“No reason.” She drummed her fingers on the back of Rose’s neck. “You know what? She’s actually kinda pretty.”

“Do I need to go tell John you’re planning on being unfaithful to him?”

Vriska laughed. “I could _neeeeeeeever_ be unfaithful to him!”

“Oh? Because it sounds like you’re going to start soliciting Kanaya.”

She leaned in close once more, nearly brushing Rose’s ear with her lips when she said, “Is that such a problem? After all, you’re not her matesprit.”

“I am disbelieving that she would want to pander to your redrom infidelity games.”

She hummed laughter and leaned harder. “Are you suuuuuuuure? I thought she might be interested...based on the way she acted the first time we were alone.”

“When were you two ever alone with each other?”

“A few nights ago. Just before we got attacked, actually.” Her grin slowly grew wider. “She acted surprised when I got her in my arms, but I’m pretty sure she liked it.”

“You did what.”

“Got her in my arms. Wrapped her up tight against the night and held her like I wasn’t going to let go until morning. Not too different...” Her arms unfolded and slipped around Rose’s waist. “From this.”

“First. If I am to believe what you said about never being unfaithful to John, then I know you neither held Kanaya then nor embrace me now like you _care_. Second. Let. _Go_.”

“Aw, why?”

“Because I will knock your teeth out if you don’t.”

She snickered. She drew her arms away, but only to catch Rose by the shoulders and spin her about. “You _are_ fun.”

She pushed Vriska’s hands away. “Are we adding an attempt at black infidelity to your list of things to do tonight?”

When her arms were dodged away from, another hug spoiled, she pouted. “But you’re more fun than Ampora! He’s all pointless brooding lately.” Again, Rose eluded her hands; she gave a tiny appreciative smirk when she slipped behind Maplehoof. “You’ve got fire in you, human.”

“You’ll forgive me if I find your statement undesirable.”

“What’s wrong with a little black flirting?” She circled around the horse, putting one hand to her chest and lifting the other. “You hate me, I hate you. How couldn’t this work?”

She turned away and started off toward the door of the hold. “Because I do not find you appealing in the slightest.”

“Now how can that possibly be the truth? I’m a sexy bitch, and you’re not too bad on the eyes.” She paused; her chuckling resurfaced. She raised her voice and said, “And you _knoooooooow_ that it’s not just me being weird about humans. Fussyfangs is _aaaaaaaall_ over how you look.”

Rose stopped with her hand on the doorknob. “Leave Kanaya out of this.” Her hand released the doorknob; her feet turned her around.

One hand to her temple, Vriska shoved her back against the door with her free hand and smiled. “If she’s not your matesprit, then it doesn’t matter.”

“I am telling you to leave her alone. You will leave her alone or I will dissolve your skeleton.”

She held her where she was with the Mindgrip and tilted her face up. “ _Ooooooooh_. Pretty grimdark there, little alchemist.”

She looked at her with little more than furrowed brows. “I am not interested.”

Disbelieving air was puffed between her lips; she released her entirely. “Yeah, sure.”

With neither sloth nor haste, she returned to Maplehoof. “Is there a reason for you being here other than your heavy-handed black flirting?”

“Oh, right.” She turned about, flipped back her hair, and crossed her arms. “We sighted land a little while ago, so I’m ordering everyone on deck.”

“I’m busy.”

“Please. Fussyfangs said you’ve been in here for almost an hour. It’s our last night on board. That means we get on deck and have fun.” She chuckled. “If that’s possible for you.”

“I just said I’m busy.”

“Gog, you’re annoying,” she sighed. “John said that if you kept turning me down about this, I should tell you that you owe him like eight songs on your violin. Also that Kanaya told him she was looking forward to hearing you play when he explained what we do on our last nights.”

A pause. She resumed brushing Maplehoof. “Fine. I’ll be there in a bit.” Her hands tossed the brush down at the horse’s hooves and her feet spun her about once again.

“Oh no you don’t!” Vriska said. She grabbed Rose by the back of the shirt as she was walked over, shaking her as she dropped her other hand from her temple and the Mindgrip to pull open the door. She marched them both out of the hold, forcing Rose to walk ahead of her. “John _also_ said that you’d probably never show up if I just let you keep doing whatever you were doing, so I promised to make sure you’d get your ass the hell on deck with your violin. Come on.”

“The fact that you promised anything seems dubious at best and unnerving at worst.”

“Bluh bluh, alchemist bitch,” Vriska replied. “I can keep my promises just fine. I’m making you get your ass in gear, ain’t I?” She stopped shoving her along only when they had reached the small cabin, all but kicking open the door to shove her one last time into the room. “Get your stupid violin and let’s go.”

She adjusted her waistcoat, pulling carefully at her rolled up shirt sleeves to smooth out the wrinkling at her back. A moment passed, and she asked, “Where’s Kanaya?”

“On deck already. John brought her up there, and I volunteered to get you when she told us where you were.”

A low breath slipped from her lips. She went to the desk and took up her hat and bag. Setting the hat on her head allowed her to slip past Vriska without meeting her gaze or her smirk, and they went topside in silence. The silence was immediately broken with the roar of the deckhands, tankards in hand, at the sight of their captain. Laughing, holding her hands high, she went to the main mast and the casks surrounding it. Her taking up a full tankard from the many sitting on the casks was met with another roar of approval.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” she called. After a moment, she tipped her glass toward Rose and John, sitting on a bench near—of all things—a piano. Rose could see Kanaya standing beside the piano, staring at the tankard in her hands. “And humans too.” She cleared her throat. “To all the poor sons of bitches that died in our most recent of battles!”

A shout; a lifting of glasses; a brief drink taken.

Vriska smirked, showing fangs shining with the torchlight from above. “But we _diiiiiiiid_ get the head of the captain of the assholes who attacked us. An ugly little blue blood who thought he was higher up than _me_!”

Howling disapproval.

“And we annihilated them!” she shouted. “Down to the last man! Thanks all to this vicious crew of mine—and to our fancy alchemists! To the alchemists!”

“To the alchemists!” Another lift of glasses; another drink taken.

“And now we’re on the eve of another adventure! Tomorrow we’ll be docking in the capitol city’s port and going our separate ways for a while!”

Boos and hisses.

“Oh shut up!”

Laughter.

“John and I are going to accompany his friends out into the city to look for more information about the demon—but we can’t resist the sea for long! We’ll be back soon enough, ready to hunt the fucker down! And I expect all of you assholes to be ready to answer the call of your beautiful captain when we do!”

A roar, the loudest yet.

“Good!” She lifted her tankard high. “Now let’s have fun and get really fucking smashed!”

The shouting was even louder than before, and the party began in earnest. As Rose picked her way across the deck, packs of trolls conversed in shouts to retell favored tales of battles and bedmates. She pointedly ignored the latter and went to the piano. John was all but giggling when she came up, and he shot to his feet and put the glass down atop the piano. He caught her in his arms, lifting her from her feet and swinging her from side to side.

“I knew you’d come up!” he said.

“It’s not like your captain gave me any damned choice,” she replied. She paused. “Is that...the piano you and your father made when we first arrived here?”

“Yep! I shrink it to put it in my bag! Never leave home without it!”

“Your sentimentalism is charming.”

He laughed. “Says the girl wearing—” He winced at the kick she gave his shin. When the sting faded, he asked “Did you bring your violin?” After a moment, she lifted her bag with a sigh. He laughed again, clapping his hands once when she set the bag on the bench and reached inside. He, in turn, reached over to pat Kanaya on the shoulder. “Here it is, Miss Kanaya! Now you get to hear her play!”

“I would appreciate it if you would stop overselling my abilities with a violin, Egbert.”

He looked at her with a pout. “Aw, c’mon Rosie! You were always complaining about how much your mom made you practice on that thing when you were little!”

“Practice does not necessarily make skill.”

“Oh, that’s a big fat lie. Liar. _Liiiiiiiiar_.”

She sighed and set the violin under her chin. She drew the bow across one string and fiddled with a peg to tune it. “Dear God, you’ve picked up her speaking habits.” Her tuning continued as she asked, “What did you want to play?”

He snickered and sat down. As he cracked his knuckles, he looked at Kanaya. “Any requests?”

Kanaya’s eyes flicked up to Rose’s face and immediately dropped when she saw the careful concentration there. She turned the tankard this way and that in her hands and shook her head.

“You ran a saloon! How can you not have a favorite drinking tune?”

“I—never particularly drank.”

He blinked. “That’s too bad.”

“Just start playing something, John,” Rose sighed. “I’ll follow and try to improvise.”

Snickering, he grinned. “Now that sounds like fun.” He waggled his fingers over the keys and called over his shoulder. “Here’s a tune for everyone!” A shout of cheery laughter was the reply given to him, and he began to play. The first strikes of the keys were only met with faint nods of Rose’s head, but she soon took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and followed his lead.

The melody was so bright and so cheery and so utterly diametric to what she had seen of Rose before that it made Kanaya simply stare in shock. The deckhands broke out in more laughter, tapping their feet to the rhythm or clapping at the wrists of the hands holding their drinks to echo the sound. As the tempo picked up, sharper notes from the strings under Rose’s fingers and louder plinks from John’s piano, a few trolls began to dance. Ale splashed onto the deck with their haphazard jig, and the mess widened when the dancers were hollered on.

Vriska climbed on the casks and began to conduct between deep swigs. The hands cheered and jeered their captain in equal measure, and howled with laughter when she shouted abuse in return. A woman with corkscrew horns pulled an accordion from somewhere and began to sashay through the dancers with music to accompany the humans. Another deckhand, a man with horns that stuck out to the sides of his heads in sharp angles, abandoned his drink entirely and swept up another man, horns long and curved back, to lay a deep kiss on his mouth.

With that, Kanaya looked away from everything and down into her drink. She made herself breathe carefully, but could not fully overcome the tightness that gripped at the center of her torso no matter how steady her breathing. Her ears focused on Rose’s violin naturally, listening close to the skitter of the bow along the strings. When it began to lead the song, twisting about the notes from piano and accordion alike to leap ahead, she pinched her eyes shut. She turned to put her back against the piano and stood by to sip slowly at the warming ale in her hands.

The carousing was as wild as she had imagined it would be. She felt stomping on the boards of the deck beneath her feet and the vibrations of the piano at her back. The singing that started up, sloppy bellows of a drinking song, she did not pay attention to. Songs came and went, both well known and improvised with the tunes naturally created. Eventually, she let her eyes drift open; they ached with how long they had been shut. Very slowly, because the violin seemed even brighter than before, she turned to look at the scene.

John was grinning, eyes glittering in the light as he played. His giddiness was infectious; it was little wonder why the deckhands were so stirred up by his songs. The giggles and near cackles that came over the noise from Vriska were a little ridiculous, but the way she danced atop the casks spoke of how very little she cared.

And then, with more hesitance than she had ever moved with before, Kanaya looked at Rose. There was a faint flush in her cheeks; her head, eyes closed, was tipped diligently over the violin and its chinrest. Her fingers hurried back and forth across the strings, swaying and pressing quickly to make the notes sigh through the air. Her shoulders tilted with the fierceness of the music, hiding her face under the brim of her hat when she turned in one direction.

She had every intention of looking away. She told herself that, repeated it in a louder and louder voice in her head to try and make herself drop her gaze. Then Rose turned back, tilted her head slightly up and to one side, and opened her eyes. The fact that she was perfectly able to keep playing when Kanaya would have sworn her own heart stopped was terribly enviable, and it was one Rose did not seem to notice at all. She continued on in her luster, bow still caressing the strings and seducing brilliant notes. But she did not take her eyes from Kanaya.

Her drink was plucked from her hands before her wrists were caught in a tight hold. “C’mere Fussyfangs!”

Only the widening of Rose’s eyes betrayed anything at the sight of Kanaya being pulled away by Vriska. The deckhands simply laughed and goaded Vriska on in leading their sudden dance. It was as wild as Vriska’s hair, all swift sways and turns and pulling. More than once did she nearly stumble off her feet only to fall flush against Vriska. Each time, her hips were taken in hand, fingers stroking up and down, until she pushed her back with a laugh. In her bafflement, Kanaya could not think of how to react. When she was taken in a dip, one hand holding her back easily and the other closed around one of her wrists, she choked. Vriska, smirking, leaned in close enough for her heated breath to wash over her lips; her throat closed entirely.

She felt a leg slip into the tangle of hers and Vriska’s; she felt a hip sway in hard to push Vriska away. In tandem, an arm slid across her stomach to push beneath Vriska’s and a hand moved up her arm to break the hold on her wrist. There was no drop of her body to be had, the new grasp was so strong. She felt another leg sweep in as she was turned, lifted, spun about and finally returned to her feet. Over Rose’s shoulder, she saw Vriska stumble back and away, eyes wide in surprise.

Breath stuttering, brows high, Kanaya let herself be pulled into another dance. Though Rose led her to follow the swift tempo, it was nothing like Vriska’s motions. She turned them round each other, pushing gentle at Kanaya’s hip and pulling soft at her arm. When she made them step forward and draw back, it was careful enough to keep Kanaya from stumbling. She stood up on her toes to lift Kanaya’s arm high and guide her in a spin. The spin was completed and Kanaya was the one to step back in. She drew close enough to feel their knees bump together and the way Rose’s stomach swelled against her with her deep inhale. Swallowing hard, she dropped her hand to curl her fingers in her belt loops.

They stopped. Standing at the edge of the drinkers and dancers, they were ignored. As suddenly as everything else, Rose took her hand from Kanaya’s hip and held tighter to her hand. She tugged gently to lead her toward the ladder below deck, only letting go when they climbed down. Back to Kanaya, she strode down the hallway and stopped many paces away. Kanaya followed slowly after her.

“I did not kiss you before.”

She halted.

“I didn’t mean to kiss you.”

She looked down. With her eyes aimed at the floor, she saw Rose’s feet first, turning about and coming back.

“Vriska said that she called me your matesprit when she asked you where I was before.”

She did not look up.

“You told me you think I deserve happiness.”

She pressed her lips together and closed her hands tightly.

“I think you are far too kind.”

She breathed in. She murmured, “I’m not. I’m terribly selfish and cowardly besides.” A curled finger tapped the underside of her chin. She looked up and watched as Rose paused, took off her hat to hold it behind her back, and rocked up on her toes.

“Hardly,” she whispered. And she leaned in to kiss Kanaya properly.

The muffled, short exhale that left her carried a great many things. It told of her surprise, and it was blended with a whimper at the sight of Rose’s eyes remaining open. Her hands opened in fits. At first, she reached out to lay her fingers on her hips. When she felt her hips begin to sink down, she lifted her hands to cup Rose’s cheeks and hold her steady when she broke the kiss and settled back on her heels.

Kanaya followed her immediately and tilted her head up to press another kiss to her mouth. A moment passed where she drew back, but she quickly leaned in again to tap kiss after kiss to Rose’s lips. It was only when Rose caught her chin in her hand and stood up on her toes to return those kisses with a very firm one of her own that she stopped and lifted her head to stare.

A pause. She blinked, put a finger to her lower lip, and lifted a brow when two spots of blood came away. “Ow.”

Her staring persisted, but she leaned down once again to enfold the tiny wounds with a kiss. There was a smile on Rose’s face when she came away, and she curled up the corners of her mouth tentatively. “Then,” she said haltingly, “you did not tell Vriska the truth when you refuted her claim that—about us?”

“I didn’t tell her she was wrong. I didn’t tell her anything, actually. It’s hardly her business.” She frowned briefly. “Though she’s determined to make it her business to try to get a rise out of me with black flirting.” She shrugged. “Regardless, I have no reason to keep avoiding the subject when it’s causing you distress.”

“You’re telling me just to comfort me?”

“I wanted to tell you. I don’t see how that makes my indirectly comforting you a bad thing.”

Kanaya sighed and put her forehead to Rose’s. She smiled and said, “So you do pity me.”

“I prefer the human terminology used in relationships such as ours.”

“Is it different?”

“Yes. Instead of pitying you, I feel far more comfortable saying I love you.”

“Oh.” She moved one hand to slip her fingers into Rose’s hair and dropped the other to her waist. She curled her fingers in her belt loops, paused, and gently pulled her closer. “That sounds like a very pleasant concept.” She kissed her again and drew back only to be able to breathe against her lips. “Would you be willing to explain it in greater detail?”

A chuckle. “Aren’t you forward.”

“I’d claim that you’ve rubbed off on me slightly.”

Rose put her hands on Kanaya’s hips and held herself steady as she stood partway up on her toes. With her lips brushing against Kanaya’s, she murmured, “That wasn’t a complaint,” and kissed her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll just leave this here.


	8. Mildly Drunken Discourse

The music Rose played in the cabin was worlds removed from the tunes fiddled on deck. It was gentle: quiet but resonant in the small room. The ship barely rocked with the shallower waters near the port; she still sat on the chair in the middle of the room with the violin tucked under her chin. They had retrieved both the violin and a tankard before fully retreating to the cabin, and it was with the glass in hand that Kanaya sat in the nest of mats and covers, back to the wall, and watched her play.

She rubbed her thumbs idly on the half-empty thing, examining the movements of her long, slim fingers on the strings. It was with a great measure of care that they moved up and down, slipping back and forth to pitch the notes high and low. Long draws of the bow, held by artfully poised fingers, often came paired with wavering presses down on the strings. Her eyes were closed, lips just apart with her breathing. When she ceased playing, she sat holding the bow to the strings for a long period of silence.

“You play very beautifully,” Kanaya said quietly.

“Your pleasure may be more derived from the quality of the song than from my playing.” She took a deep breath and put the violin in her lap. “In any case, I’m only playing what I remember from a piece meant to be played by a quartet.”

She sighed, smiling wearily. “That’s unnecessarily hard on yourself. You really are talented.” Her smile took on warmth. “Thank you for playing for me. Most trolls wouldn’t play such soft music.”

“I thought you might like Beethoven.” She opened her eyes and returned Kanaya’s smile. “You have good taste.”

“You’re something of a flatterer, aren’t you.”

“When I have cause to be.”

A long, low hum left her as she looked at the remaining ale in the tankard. “I hadn’t realized being pitied would make me feel this happy.”

A pause. Rose sighed as she stood, set the violin on the desk, and moved to sit beside Kanaya. She took the tankard gently, glanced inside, and tapped a needle on the mug. When the flash faded, the ale had replenished itself. After taking a drink, she returned the mug. Her fingers lingered on Kanaya’s wrist.

“I think,” she murmured, “that the terminology you’ve chosen might not be what you really want to use.”

“Oh, yes, you did say you preferred using the word ‘love.’”

“Haven’t you ever used it before?”

“Well...not exactly. Mine was not the most romantic of lives.” She hesitated. “And I fear you’re going to scoff at me for this, but most of my thoughts regarding the terminology of romance are influenced by the literature I read...but also the rants Karkat gave on the subject of quadrants.”

“Dear lord,” Rose sighed. “There’s no topic I would dread his involvement in more than _romance_.”

“I’m certain he meant well.”

“Regardless. When I talk of romance, I don’t mean in the sense of listening to Vantas’ mad ravings or repeating the words of your over-idealized books. Would you say that what you feel for me is actually _pity_?”

She was quiet. Slowly, she turned her hand over to catch Rose’s fingers in her palm. There were calluses on her fingertips; they were warm from the strings. “How would you describe what you feel for me?”

“Now you’re just looking for compliments.”

There was a small tinge of slyness in her smile. “Is that wrong?”

“I would say no, but I believe I’ve told you a number of my reasons for caring about you, and I don’t think any of them can be defined even loosely as ‘pity.’”

“When have you told me that?”

“Around the time you told me you think I deserve happiness, if you’d care to recall.” She glanced at the faint jade dusting her cheeks. “Though you might not be able to, given your level of intoxication.”

“I am hardly intoxicated. I am simply curious about how you would describe your feelings.”

“Poorly, I’d image.”

“Would drinking a little more aid your tongue?”

“Miss Maryam, are you trying to get me drunk?”

“I think I would like you to be a little tipsy, yes.” She smiled and put the tankard in Rose’s hands. “I think it could help you relax.”

She sighed. “I fear I’ll become an alcoholic if I follow every insistence from you and John to drink.”

“I promise I won’t let you be ridiculous. And I promise to not belittle you for being tipsy or drunk.”

A pause. She said, “All right,” and took another drink. “How would you like me to bare my soul?”

“Perhaps an explanation of why love and pity differ in your mind?”

“Ah.” Another small drink. “That’s easy enough.” She opened her mouth, but went quiet as Kanaya pulled her close and held her to her side. “What are you doing?”

“Holding you. I believe I have the explicit right as your matesprit.”

Rose gave another sigh, but it was paired with a smile. “All right. I’ve been on Alternia long enough to learn the basics of quadrants, and I would say that the ‘pity’ of the flushed quadrant is more akin to love. You may honestly pity Vantas as your moirail; feeling bad for his circumstances while maintaining a friendly relationship with him.” She took a drink. “The latter of which I am ever baffled by, but you wish for his safety and general well-being.”

“But I wish the same for you.”

“You said you want me happy, and at this point it seems safe to say that you want to be the one to give me happiness. And you do this without a sense of duty, or so I assume.”

“You can be quite exasperating, but I’ve come to find your snarkiness endearing.” She pressed her lips to Rose’s hair. “There is no sense of obligation. Just a great deal of fondness.”

“Then it’s not pity but simple affection. Ergo, the word ‘love’ is most likely more accurate for what you feel.”

She chuckled. “I have the strangest feeling you may be the only person, human or troll, to determine the accuracy of words meant to show affection through simple logic.”

“I would say love is a matter of simple logic.”

“How decidedly unromantic.”

“I generally am.”

“Your method of professing your attraction and subsequent method of kissing suggests otherwise.”

“I am a firm believer in action displaying truth more than words. Showing affection is an altogether different matter from professing it. Speaking of which, you are remarkably physical. I think you’ve held me more in the weeks we’ve been together than anyone else in many years.”

“You fit very well in my arms.” She took the glass from Rose’s hand to take a drink. When she had swallowed, she set the glass aside and pulled her closer. “Is that a complaint?”

“No, not particularly.”

Kanaya tilted her head, resting her cheek on Rose’s hair. “You do realize you haven’t explained your reasoning behind your affection for me.”

“Now you _are_ tipsy. I have told you my reasoning.”

“Then I request a repetition of your statements. Consider it an elucidation of your simple logic.”

“You know what?”

“Hmm?”

She reached over Kanaya’s lap to pick up the tankard. She said, “I think you become even more verbose when you drink,” and drank.

She giggled and squeezed Rose in a hug.

“ _And_ giggly? You’re just trying to make yourself utterly endearing.”

“And what do these new traits join in your simple logic?”

“Let me think.” She took another drink, looked into the tankard, and hummed as she drew a needle and replenished the ale. For a long while, she stared into it, turning the tankard between her palms. “I’ve told you that you’re a sympathetic woman and that you’re very headstrong. The former gives me a great deal of comfort in the face of everything, and the latter is something I find attractive in a person. You are inquisitive as well as intelligent, and this is also attractive. You’re brave, you’re deceptively strong and outwardly gentle, and you can be rather funny if the mood strikes you.” Her voice had steadily been growing quieter, and she tried to hide her words in the tankard when she said, “Also, you’re very physically attractive.”

Kanaya lifted her head and leaned slightly to look at Rose’s face. There was a deep flush on her cheeks; her eyes were turned away; and she had drawn her legs up. “Does your sudden embarrassment have anything to do with what John told me regarding standard romantic relationships for humans?”

“That depends on what he told you,” she mumbled.

“He said humans generally only enter relationships with people of the opposite gender, citing the fact that the genetic material of a man and a woman is necessary to produce offspring.” She gave her another small squeeze. “I must admit it was upsetting to hear, and it played a major part in how I’ve been behaving for the last few days.”

Rose sighed. “That certainly does explain it.” After a moment, she took another drink. She put the tankard down and pushed it away. “What he said isn’t accurate. Either that, or you may have jumped to a conclusion on my behalf that isn’t accurate. There were people on Earth that are—they prefer the romantic company of their own gender. It wasn’t as public as heterosexual couplings, and it was typically looked down upon if it _was_ public thanks to a general belief that it was—a number of religions condemned it as a sin because it didn’t end in producing offspring.”

She gestured vaguely and began to speak faster. “So it’s not like I was unaware of the reality of homosexual love back on Earth. It was, in fact, the complete opposite and I was aware of it all since my ‘teen years, but it shockingly wasn’t a topic that ever really came up in our household of heretical alchemists. If I stopped listening to my mother at the age of thirteen, it logically follows that I would be unwilling to discuss any sort of amorous leanings with her.”

Kanaya felt her shoulders begin to tremble. “Rose?”

“And it wasn’t like I was ever comfortable talking about such silly matters with my friends. We’ve been friends since childhood. I would feel as uncomfortable hearing about their romantic endevo—interests when all my focus lay else—lay in alchemy. Because I’ve always considered it to be a very admirable pursuit—a science unsullied by conflicting emotions and pointless desires that would never be worth anything. After all, we were already considered heretics under the eye of every religion and I eventually solidified my status as a stained individual. What reason was there to focus on anything but this science that was steady and unwavering?”

“Rose, wait.”

“I was prepared to live a detached life of celibacy from a young age, because who would even try to look past all those things that are— _wrong_ with me? No one at all, and who could blame them in the slightest? We seemed to be the only ones who felt comfortable in these different lives of ours, and I never expected any less.” She drew her legs up further, head sinking. “I never ever did.”

“Rose.”

Her voice quaked: “I was really ready for that. I was ready and prepared and resigned to being alone, and I truly thought being touched by the Elder Gods and cast here like a pathetic useless stone made me even more equipped to spend the rest of my days here alone but for my friends.”

“Rose, _please_.”

“And then, God help me, I met _you_. An absolutely ridiculous woman who cared so little about my problems that it was refreshing to be chastised for the things I did wrong. But for some reason, you revealed that you could be just as caring and warm as uncaring and harsh and shoved yourself into my affairs. And after a while I was— _happy_ that you were coming with me.”

She leaned close to whisper in her ear, “ _Rose_.”

“For the most asinine reasons, of course. I remembered that trolls just don’t give a damn about something that utterly terrifies me, and after you called me charming, for a very brief time, I entertained thoughts that had no place in my mind or my life or yours by proxy. By the time I realized what I was doing I did my best to stop showing my affec—interests, and I committed another pathetic and unforgivable sin by confusing you.”

“Rose, stop. _Stop_.”

“All you ever did was be kind to me, and I repaid that by being indecent and frustrating you. Then we met John and Vriska, and I—I _hated_ them for being brave enough to confront and admit to each other what I couldn’t to you and reminding me of how fucking _lonely_ I was. And when—when you were—you nearly _died_ and it was my fault entirely. I was terrified that you were going to be taken from me and it would be all my fault. I couldn’t let that happen. Kanaya, I couldn’t let you die.”

She opened her mouth again, but the tiny breaking laugh she heard made her breathing stop.

“How typical of me to confuse you even more with the act of making you breathe again. All I can do is fuck things up and fuck things up and never ever talk about it with the people that mean the most to me because I am such a pathetic _coward_. But when I saw Vriska pull you into that dance, I could have killed her for how jealous I was. It was because I was terrified to lose you that I went to you and pulled you from her arms. And here I am, terrified once again that I’ll do something to fuck this up and—”

Kanaya pressed Rose down to the mats and covers and kissed her. Holding herself up slightly on one elbow, pinning Rose beneath her, she slid the fingers of one hand into her hair and cradled her head. She felt a breaking whimper against her mouth; she felt hands clutch desperately at her back. When she lifted her head and opened her eyes, she saw how Rose’s eyes had pinched shut, how her teeth were grit behind her lips. The deep, shuddering breaths that surged through Rose stuttered against her stomach, her chest.

She sank down again and brought her lips back to Rose’s. A gasp burst against her lips; a foot twitched against her ankle. A strangled groan vibrated through Rose’s body as she pushed up into the kiss. With each pull back, Kanaya breathed in deeply to draw out the pain in Rose’s gasps and let it disappear, and with each return she gave her gentle rushes of warm relief.

Wetness began to smear on her face, and she brought her lips from Rose’s to kiss away the tears. She put her forehead to hers, closing her eyes and listening to her hitching breath. She kissed between her eyebrows once before turning her head slightly and tipping it down to rest her lips on her ear.

“You asked if what I feel for you is pity,” she whispered.

Rose nodded clumsily.

“It isn’t.”

She wept weakly and tried to hold the noise building in her throat where it was.

“You are charming, you are passionate, you are lovely. You are _not_ stained. You aren’t worthless or wrong. I won’t let you say that. I won’t pity you for it. I’m going to care about you and listen, and I’ll hold you as long as you need me to. And even though you being so anguished makes me ache for you, it won’t drive me away.” She brought back her arm to slip it beneath Rose and press it between her shoulder blades, holding her close. “You’re right, Rose. I mean to say I love you. However many times you want to hear it, need to hear it, I’m more than happy to say it.”

It began with a cough: a breaking of the dam in her throat. Soon Rose was sobbing openly, hiding her face in the curve of Kanaya’s neck. Kanaya tightened her grip and pressed kisses to the heated patch of skin beneath her ear. When she moved her head down to follow the line from ear to shoulder, her way was blocked by the crumpled fold of Rose’s collar and the high buttoning of her shirt. She pulled away, rising up on one elbow again, and took her hand from Rose’s head to set it on her chest. Her fingers slipped through the spaces between the buttons, and she looked up.

Rose stared at her, eyes glistening and face wet. Her sobs had tapered off into the occasional hiccupping breath; the misery in her face had lessened. Her cheeks were flushed, and they grew darker when she brought her arms up and scrubbed anxiously at her face with her sleeves. She hid behind her hands, and the sound of shame hung heavily in her voice when she said, “I think I’m a little drunk.”

“I believe I told you I wouldn’t belittle you for it.”

“Wasn’t there a promise that you wouldn’t let me act ridiculous somewhere back when we started this drinking game?”

“Do you feel like you’re being ridiculous?”

“For fuck’s sake, I’m telling you a complicated sob story and weeping like a child. I don’t know how I could be any more ridiculous.”

She hummed quietly and smiled before shaking her head. “I don’t think it’s ridiculous at all.” She gently moved Rose’s hands from her face, settling them one after the other on her own shoulders. “What would be ridiculous is if you were to tell me that I have no call undoing the fastenings of your clothing and continuing to kiss you, because at this point I feel I have a very good reason to do just that.” Slowly, she turned her hand and undid the first button of her shirt with a deft twist of thumb and forefinger. She brushed the fabric aside and trailed the backs of her fingers up her throat, from hollow to chin. “But I would like to know if you would prefer that I allow that kind of ridiculousness, or if you prefer that I continue.”

“I honestly cannot believe you’re asking me that.”

“I’m all right with either outcome, truly.”

She sighed quietly. “Kanaya, I’m going to say this with a deal of clarity that probably shouldn’t be afforded to a slightly drunken woman who just spilled her withered little heart all over the floor. I have confessed that I have been entertaining romantic thoughts regarding us for something close to two weeks, and your response to my having a sobbing fit was to hold me down in the most loving of manners and kiss away my tears. There is nothing I want more in my life at the moment than for you to keep going.” She pulled her down gently, kissed her, and exhaled shakily against her lips. “Please don’t make me beg.”

“I won’t,” she whispered.

Her hand undid button after button, both in small bursts of speed and languorous lulls. She paused to slip her fingers under the loosened shirt, brushing from one side of her ribcage to the other. Her efforts were halted in the form of the top of her waistcoat; she was forced to redouble her undoing, plucking open the black vest before working on the shirt. The last of the buttons was hidden below the top of her jeans, bound further by her belt. With tiny clicks and clinks of the metal buckle half buried by the stuttering sound of Rose’s breath, she unfastened the thing and pulled it gently from the loops.

She kissed Kanaya’s face, pressing her lips on her cheeks, her chin, her nose, her brow. Between each of those touches she kissed her mouth. When her hips were rocked by her shirt being tugged free of her jeans, she pursed her lips and muffled the sound that tried to skip across her tongue. Her shirt and waistcoat were pushed aside, finally opened properly, and fell to collect limply along her sides. Kanaya brought down her other arm, moving about until she was able to brace herself with her arm pressed up against the length of her torso. She curved her hand around her, heel of her palm against the fabric of her bra and fingertips touching the edge of her shoulder blade. Her other hand found the rise of her hip and stroked at her bare skin almost thoughtfully.

The hands on her shoulders moved suddenly. They came first to her throat, palms on the front and fingers rising to touch behind her ears. She was pulled down more insistently; the renewed kiss brought with it the touch of a heated tongue to her lips. When the hands departed, she remained entangled in the kiss. Her breath left her in a rush through her nose when Rose’s fingers swept up the back of her blouse, hitching it high enough to let her hands clutch at her bare back. There was the tiniest dig of fingernails into her skin; she repaid it by letting go of her hip to bury her hand in her hair and pull her closer still.

A long, low hiss of breath seeped from her mouth as Kanaya moved to press her lips to her neck. Kiss after kiss after gentlest nip at her skin came to make her blink in weak flutters of her eyelids. Her eyes swept back and forth over the ceiling until she caught sight of one of Kanaya’s horns. Again she moved a hand; she slipped her fingers into her hair. The coarseness of the strands registered briefly before she found the base of her horn. It was absurdly smooth in comparison, and her slow stroking at her scalp around it made a wavering moan vibrate against her throat. She whispered, “ _Oh_.”

She shifted her weight, putting down the arm that owned the hand in Rose’s hair in order to push her free hand down, down, down beneath her and find the small of her back. Only her thumb curved into it; the rest of her fingers ventured past the top of her jeans and pressed their nails into the soft flesh there. The buck of Rose’s hips was surprisingly elegant for how sudden it was, and the groan that drifted into the air was stunning.

A quiet murmur, “You’re beautiful,” found its way to her ear. She bit her lip to muffle the whimper the words stirred in her chest. Kanaya kissed her neck to hum laughter against it, and there was no stopping the hitch in her breathing. The leg that had been caught between Kanaya’s somehow remained still; the other bent abruptly to press hard against her hip. Her heel slipped on the covers; her toes slipped on the skirt covering her leg. She exhaled in a rush and brought her foot back up to draw up the skirt. She canted her leg to one side and put her foot beneath her ankle. Kanaya’s weight settled more firmly onto her, and she shivered beneath her.

For a moment, she remained where she was, breathing steadily against Rose’s neck. The moment passed and she moved again. She drew back, rising onto her hands and knees and ignoring the moan of protest. At the grab of her blouse, the pull of it to try and bring her back down with the temptation and promise of Rose’s free hand finding a way up high on her chest, she shook her head and resisted. Carefully, she brought her other leg up and over Rose’s, tapping her knee firmly against her thigh to give herself room. She reached beneath her and undid the clasps of her bra with dexterous fingers. It would take too long to pull the shirt and waistcoat from her arms to free the straps entirely, and so she simply chose to push the fabric up and away.

Kanaya looked at her. Studied her, took in the flush on her chest and the rise and fall of her breasts with her breathing, watched her swallow with difficulty. Her hands rested where they had stopped at her collarbones. They moved in opposite directions then, one coming to cup the back of her neck and the other traveling down her side. As she went, she swept her hand up and along her breast, heel brushing its side and palm holding its weight and fingertips rising to slip across the hard flesh of her nipple. It dropped, but came back up suddenly to drape entirely over her breast and catch her nipple between her first and second fingers.

The roll, the pinch of her skin made noise leap so abruptly from her throat that she nearly choked trying to clamp down on it. Convulsively, she whipped her hand from Kanaya’s stomach to slap it down over her mouth and closed her eyes tightly. She did not see the surprise that lifted Kanaya’s brows, nor the concern that filled her eyes afterward. She only felt the hand leave her neck and gently take hold of her wrist. The soft pull of her hand she responded to with a furious shake of her head.

“Why?” Kanaya whispered. She stared as her eyes barely opened, brows drawn tight together, before she shook her head again and looked away. “Rose, what is it? What’s wrong?”

Her breathing hitched and halted, and she kept her mouth hidden behind her arm when she had curled her hand into a white-knuckled fist. “I— _can’t_ I _shouldn’t_ I need—need to be—” She choked. But despite her squirming, legs bumping against Kanaya’s hips, she did not try to push her away.

She took in a slow breath. “You need to be quiet?”

“ _Yes_.”

“Why?”

“Be-because I should be I shouldn’t talk I just shouldn’t open my stupid fucking _mouth_ I fucking screw things up when I _do_.”

Kanaya smiled. “But I like hearing you.” She let go of her wrist to take her hand. She tipped her head down and kissed her knuckles. “I like hearing your voice. You don’t have to be quiet. I want to hear you.”

Her arm wasn’t enough to muffle the whine that came from her mouth. She shook her head again, but only twice, only slowly. Closing her eyes tightly, sucking in a breath through her nose, she finally turned her head back and took away her arm. She let Kanaya hold her wrist down; she let Kanaya kiss her so very gently. She pulled at her blouse harder, and she whimpered at the smile she felt. When Kanaya pulled away, she grit her teeth. But when she moved down and pressed her lips to the center of her chest, she managed to open her mouth and let out a quiet moan. The moan immediately grew louder when she felt the tip of her tongue on her skin.

In the midst of listening to Rose’s whimpers, she remembered where her other hand was. It had drifted down to a trembling leg, fingernails digging into her covered thigh and bringing it tight against her hip. There was very little concentration needed to bring her mouth to a heaving breast and wrap her lips around the hard nipple, and even less to lap and suckle at her heated flesh. It left her free to caress her leg, down to her knee and back up to her hip. She curled her fingers over the top of her jeans, bringing them past the denim to let her slowly slide them back and forth over the lowest part of her belly.

Rose stopped struggling with it all and let out a brief, sharp exhale carrying Kanaya’s name. Another was sputtered at the sensation of a hard suckle. At the small tug at the button of her jeans, though, she finally opened her eyes again. She saw the way she had all but wrapped her legs around Kanaya, knees pressed hard to her hips and feet twitching in the covers. She saw Kanaya’s head bent over her chest, and caught sight of the jade flush on her face and the beads of sweat on her brow as her mouth worked diligently. And when Kanaya paused and saw that she was looking at her, Rose stopped breathing.

She leaned up slightly to let Rose watch as she pulled down the zipper of her jeans so slowly it was silent. She savored the breaking whimper that welled out of Rose’s throat at the sight, and she breathed deeply, sliding her hand down past cloth and along skin, in the hope that she could bring the sob of her name she caused into her mouth and taste it. What her questing fingers found was brilliant heat, utter wetness. The sudden spasm in the wrist she held made her look up to see Rose’s hand fly open. She watched very closely to see how her fingers trembled with each changed motion of her own hand.

Words had never failed Rose so miserably before. She was reduced to pure sound, pure noise, and the sharpest calls of “ _Kanaya_!” She whimpered when she was cupped in a long fingered hand; she groaned when those long fingers curled and stroked smoothly back and forward and over and again; and she moaned loudly when they dared to barely dip inside her. It was slow to the point of agony, and she somehow managed to let go of Kanaya’s shirt to bring her hand to the back of her head. She pulled her down with trepidation, taking care not to bring their heads together too quickly. When their foreheads touched, she stopped. Simply stopped, went quiet, and waited.

They looked at each other. They lay in silence, Kanaya atop Rose, and looked at each other’s eyes. Kanaya took in the shade of violet within clear white; Rose stared at the gold and the jade and the tiny flecks of grey that spotted the edges of her irises.

With a trembling breath to steady her voice, Rose said, “Kanaya?”

“Yes?”

“I—I...” She took a deep breath. “Kanaya, I...” Another breath; she swallowed hard. She did not look away. “I...love you.”

She smiled and kissed her. When she drew back, she stayed close and whispered to set the words on her lips. “I love you, Rose.”

At the first slip of two of Kanaya’s fingertips inside her, she froze. They went deeper and she pulled in a breath as slowly as they moved. By the time Kanaya stilled within her, she was panting and shaking and staring with wide eyes. A spasm suddenly seized her, tightening her stomach and the flesh wrapped around Kanaya’s fingers. The tiny gasp that she heard was enough to make her whimper, make her grimace and hold tight to her hair. She opened her mouth.

“I won’t make you beg,” she whispered. She pressed one knee to the underside of Rose’s thigh, lifting it and making it tilt to the side, and began to rock her fingers in and out. Immediately, the stream of sound again began to flow out of Rose’s mouth, orders of magnitude more desperate than before. She pushed her head up against Kanaya’s; her heated exhales washed over her lips. The hand still held down tried frantically to pull free, but fell docile the moment Kanaya laced their fingers together and held tight.

The faster she moved her fingers, the fiercer Rose moved against her. Thrust for thrust, in and up in unison. It seemed she would match her forever, no matter how she slowed to draw out her moans or twist her fingers to make her cry aloud. Her body trembled from head to toe, and the bursts of stronger shaking was paired with the tightening of her body around Kanaya’s fingers. When she pressed her hand flush to her body, rubbing with the heel of her palm, Rose choked and her eyes shut tightly.

“Look at me, Rose,” she murmured. “Please look at me. Open your eyes.”

She hissed incoherence, curses and Kanaya’s name and moans mixed into sound that made Kanaya let out a moan of her own.

“Open your eyes,” she said. “Let me see you. Please, Rose, _please_.” She moved faster with her fingers, rubbed harder with her hand. “Rose _I love you_ please look at me _look at me_.”

Somehow, she did. Paralyzed by her quivering, words evaporating almost completely, she kept her eyes open until the very end. When it came, her eyes widened, lips parting and breath halting. A great shaking washed over her; she let out a piercing cry of “ _Oh God, Kanaya_!” as her eyes slammed shut and her hand tightened in her hair. Her hips writhed; her legs stiffened; her toes curled painfully. Her cry became a high, tremulous moan. It soon tapered to panting, and when she had been released from her breaking, she could no longer hold her head up against Kanaya’s. She slumped back, clutching Kanaya’s hand for all her trembling body was worth.

Slowly, she took her fingers from her body. She felt Rose twitch in response, her panting hitching for an instant before she let out a sigh of a moan. For a moment, she looked down at her hand and the translucent wetness smeared thick upon it. Breathing evenly, she lifted her hand close. The scent was so heavy she could all but taste it, and she licked her hand to see if truly matched. It did: it mixed sweetness with tiny bursts of biting salt, and was amazingly warm in her mouth. She cleaned her hand and began to shift back and down, wanting to drink it in completely, but Rose squeezed her hand. She looked up to see her eyes opened narrowly, and her lips trembling.

“Don’t,” she whimpered.

“Why not? You taste wonderful.”

She tried to swallow, failed, and let out a shaky exhale. “I don’t—I can’t—this...this was a lot.” She took her hand from Kanaya’s head to rub hard at her eyes. “And I haven’t—you, I don’t know if—” Her breath tripped halfway up her throat. “Oh God, I’m sorry.”

She smiled and chuckled very quietly. “Whatever for?”

“You—I don’t know...right now, I don’t know if I can even move—oh God, I _do_ want to— _you_ , I want _you_ —” She choked. “Kanaya, I’m _sorry_.”

For all the stammering that fell out of her mouth, it was remarkably easy to discern her meaning. She continued to smile and tipped down to touch her lips to Rose’s forehead. She murmured, “It’s all right. I won’t let you tell me otherwise.” She paused to think. “I will, however, allow you to make some sort of statement akin to a promise of a next time wherein we both are reducing to quivering messes like your current state. Does that sound like a fair bargain?”

It took a moment, but Rose gave up a tiny laugh. “It does. I think next time I won’t be such an emotional disaster.”

“I think next time I’ll take your clothes off properly.”

Her laughter grew. “Kanaya, stop it.”

“It’s a valid point. Your shirt and waistcoat are so wrinkled now that I fear even your best alchemy won’t save them, not to mention how damp your jeans have become. It’s rather tragic how badly you abuse your clothing, Rose dear.”

She started to giggle. “Stop.”

“I’m fairly certain you’ll be more comfortable if I help you disrobe first. At the very least, I’ll be able to touch more of your skin, and I see no reason as to how that could possibly be a negative.”

She sputtered, putting her hand over her mouth to hold down her snickering. “Kanaya.”

“Then we’re fully agreed on all accounts. Next time, I take your clothes off entirely, you do the same to me, and we ravish each other so thoroughly we can do nothing more than cry out for each other as we climax.”

Her efforts otherwise failed completely: she burst out laughing. “ _Dammit_ , Kanaya. Now—now is hardly the time to be a snarky broad.”

“I thought it was the perfect time.” She ran her thumb over the curve of Rose’s ear. She smiled, raising her brows, when Rose looked at her. “See? I’ve gotten you to smile again.”

A pause. She let out a long sigh, but her smile did not fade. “It’s not too hard for you to make me smile, Kanaya.”

“I’m glad.” She tapped a kiss to her mouth before suddenly straightening up and moving away on her knees.

Rose pushed herself up on shaking arms, utterly baffled. “What are you doing?”

She returned with their bag, holding it up slightly. “I can’t stand to let you sleep in attire such as that.”

A blink. “Oh.”

Kanaya laughed, leaning in to kiss below her ear before reaching into the bag. She drew out pieces of clothing: sleepwear for the both of them. For a moment, Rose looked at the soft black long sleeved t-shirt and pants that had been put in her hands. When she glanced up, she found herself simply staring at Kanaya as she undid the buttons of her blouse and pulled it from her shoulders. She looked away, shifting slightly to turn aside and only listen to the sounds of clothing being taken off, set aside, and slipped into once more. She started when arms wrapped around her waist and a body settled against her back.

“Your sudden sense of modesty is peculiar,” Kanaya said. “You act like you’ve never seen me without clothes before.”

“Happening to catch glimpses of you when you’re bathing or getting dressed when we’re traveling together is different from seeing you naked in a bedroom setting.”

“I see.” She pulled the back of her collar down slightly to kiss the nape of her neck. Smiling, she took the clothes from Rose’s taut hands and set them aside. She began to take off her shirt.

“I can—do that.”

“I know. I would like to, though.”

It was without further protests that Rose let herself be undressed and dressed again. She let out a long sigh when Kanaya went as far as to tie the string of her pants, and closed her eyes when she was moved gently, back coming to Kanaya’s chest. They sat there a long while, Kanaya with her lips to Rose’s hair and Rose with her hands atop the arms wrapped around her. There was no sound of surprise to be made when Kanaya laid them both down on their sides.

Rose shuffled back, pressing more firmly against her. Kanaya smiled and moved one of her hands from her waist, laying her palm between her breasts to hold her close and stop her squirming. She felt her heartbeat in her fingertips and her breath in the rise of her back against her chest. She made to close her eyes, but opened them again at the sound of Rose humming quietly.

It was the same piece that she had played on her violin so long ago in the night. She tilted her head up enough to see that Rose had shut her eyes. Whether it was to concentrate on the notes or if it was to simply relax, she did not know. She chose to smile, and closed her eyes to listen closely.

The longer Rose hummed, the deeper the sound became. Soon, it reversed: she began to simply let the notes come out in her sighs. Her legs drew up slowly, holding Kanaya’s arm where it was around her waist. Her sighing grew softer; her breathing began to fall into evenness. Kanaya put her lips near one ear.

“Rose?” she murmured.

“Mm.”

She touched her ear with a kiss, and set another on her neck. “I love you.” For a moment, all she heard was her breathing; she wondered if she had drifted off.

“Love you,” Rose whispered back. And then she was gone. Kanaya, smiling still, followed soon after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The urge to have them drink a little and discuss the nature of love and pity bit me very hard. And then Rose basically dumped every single insecurity she could and does have about relationships with people, particularly romantic ones, and Kanaya's response was the most natural thing to write. It was all very interesting, and important enough to their development that I scrapped the idea of making this a sort of companion piece and chose to make it chapter eight properly.
> 
> Also, the piece that Rose plays for Kanaya is part of [Beethoven's string quartet op. 135](http://youtu.be/_yvwJt40ZWg).


	9. Hide and Seek

Someone knocked on the door.

Kanaya had never before disapproved of something so fiercely in her life. While it brought to her waking attention that she was, in fact, cuddling a soft sleeping Rose, it threatened to disrupt that peacefulness. She opened her eyes only when she heard the small creak of the door, and looked at John from over the top of Rose’s head.

He leaned in with his mouth open wide, but he stopped short of speaking when he saw them in the still flickering light of the lantern hanging above. Instead, he grinned and waved.

She lifted a brow at him.

“We’re gonna dock in about half an hour,” he whispered.

She blinked slowly.

He chuckled. “I’ll try to make it an hour.” His grin became a smile. “Go ahead and keep snuggling.” With another wave, he closed the door; his retreating footsteps were carefully light.

She sighed and closed her eyes a moment. Rose had barely moved in her sleep, legs still drawn up to hold the arm draped around her waist where it was. The most that had changed was that her head had burrowed down into the covers: they had been pulled up at some point and her face was half covered. It was typically how Kanaya found her upon waking, and she smiled to see it then. She curled her hand up, keeping it beneath the covers, to stroke her face. With the backs of her fingers, she felt the softness of Rose’s skin.

Rose mumbled quietly, shifting to hide her face further. Kanaya couldn’t help the small chuckle that left her mouth. She tucked loose strands of hair behind her ear and smoothed the line of her brow. She tipped her head down to touch her lips to Rose’s neck.

“Nmph.”

She giggled.

“ _Nmph_.”

“If you’re awake now, you’ll have to speak clearly.”

Her voice was muffled when she mumbled, “I’ve neither the desire to be awake, nor to speak clearly.”

“And you’re adorable.”

“How does that segue from what I said?”

“It doesn’t, admittedly.” She kissed her cheek. “But it’s still very true. I thought I’d share.”

She opened one eye, turning her head slightly. “Why are we awake?”

“John came to tell us that we’re going to dock soon.”

“That’s a terrible reason.”

“At least it was John who came to tell us, as opposed to Vriska.”

“Point.” She let out a long sigh, closing her eye and dropping her head back to the mats. “How much long can we stay here?”

“He said he could stall for an hour or so.” She returned her hand to Rose’s chest, pulling her closer. “I’m surprised. You’re usually very quick to rise after waking.”

“Seeing as this is the first time I’ve slept and _not_ had nightmares in weeks—without the aid of sopor—I’m disinclined to get up.” She sighed again, turning her head this way and that to try and hide under the covers. “You’re holding me when we sleep from now on.”

“Gladly.” She squeezed her around the waist. “Would you like to go back to sleep?”

“I won’t be able to. Besides, lying right here is good.” A pause. “We should probably discuss what we’re going to do once we’re in the city. I vote for leaving Serket in a grimy alley somewhere and absconding as fast as we can.”

Kanaya chuckled. “That’s not going to do anyone any good. And I think John would be upset.”

Rose sighed loudly through her nose. “I don’t understand why they insisted upon coming with us.”

“John said it’s because he doesn’t want to abandon us.”

Her voice was flat when she muttered, “How sweet of him.”

“He’s rather chivalrous.”

“An excellent example of a goodhearted and sentimental person. If he wasn’t my friend, I’d probably be truly aggravated. As it stands, I’m only annoyed. More with Serket.”

She laughed. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you had a black infatuation.”

“She pisses me off. I’m not attracted, and I’m not interested in anyone but you.”

“Flattery is very becoming of you.”

“Mm.”

She nuzzled against Rose’s hair. “We’ve come here for information on Noir, correct?”

“Mm.”

“How are we going to find it?”

“Information dealers. They’re always willing to sell rumors.”

“People buy and sell rumors?”

“Careful, Kanaya. Your rural roots are showing.”

She poked Rose hard in the chest.

“Ow.” She reached up and caught Kanaya’s hand, lacing their fingers together. “Yes, information is a commodity. How do you think I came to your town in the first place?”

“You had said it was a rumor.”

“Correct. We’re here now to find a dealer. Hopefully, if the royal trolls are starting to be interested in Noir, there’ll be information for sale.”

“And how are we to find these dealers?”

“Look for extremely shady individuals. I’ve found slavers are often aware of every kind of dealer in large cities.” A long pause; a deep breath and exhale. She extracted herself from Kanaya’s arms slowly and rolled over quickly. Letting out another deep breath, she put her head beneath her chin, folding her arms between them to rest her hands at the center of Kanaya’s chest. “I really don’t want to get up. This is very comfortable.”

“I wouldn’t have pegged you for cuddling.”

“You didn’t peg me as a lover of women, so I’d say we’re even at this point.”

“I was misinformed about standard romantic human relationships.”

“John, despite his adoration of women, is not exactly the best person to consult on matters of human romance and sexual preferences, let alone those of his friends.”

“I see.” She moved her hands, putting one in Rose’s hair and the other on the small of her back. “May I ask you something?”

“Mm.”

“You called John an example of a sentimental person. Why is that?”

“Recall what I said about the piano on deck being the one that he and his father created shortly after our arrival. The fact that he shrinks it to fit in his bag shows that he is loathe to discard it.”

“But the same could be said of your hat, given how you’re rather protective of it.”

Silence.

“How did you come to have that hat?”

A pause. “It was a present from my mother. She gave it to me, and then presented me with Maplehoof. That was about a year—half a sweep—before we attempted my alchemy.”

“You’ve had that hat for over three sweeps? Are all your clothes that old?”

“I stopped growing around that time, so it’s not like I’ve necessarily needed new clothing.”

“I’m astonished they haven’t _dissolved_ by now.”

“I patch everything with alchemy.”

“That’s what you do when you check your clothing every night? I suppose that’s why I’ve never seen an inch of wear or damage on that scarf of yours. You spend more time inspecting it than anything else.”

A long pause came and went. Her voice was very quiet when she said, “Actually, that’s because it was my mother’s scarf. I took it from her things after she was killed.”

Kanaya had no words to give in response. She chose to hold Rose closer and kissed the top of her head. The breath that washed against her throat was warm; it was steady. With slow strokes of her fingers, she combed her hair. “When we have a moment, remind me to make something for you.”

“A moment?”

“Surely we’ll have some kind of free time together in the future where we aren’t on gamblignant ships or hunting down alchemic demons. When we have a moment, I’d like to make something for you.” She hummed, smiling. “I think you’d look beautiful in a dress.”

“I haven’t worn one since being cast from Earth.”

“All the more reason to make one for you.”

There was a small inhale, as if preparing for an argument. Then Rose let out a small sigh and pressed a kiss to Kanaya’s throat. “All right. If the promise of making me play dress-up in the future makes you happy, then I acquiesce.”

“I’ll start sketching the designs.”

“That would require getting up.”

She rolled them over, kneeling up over Rose. Still smiling, she brushed the tousled hair from her face and tucked her fingers beneath her ear. “Later, then.”

There had been a chuckle building in Rose’s throat, but the abrupt banging on the door murdered it. Her hand flew out from beneath the covers; a needle appeared in her fingers to let her flick lightning at the door. The metal of the doorknob shifted, and the lock clicked shut just as the door’s assailant attempted to complete their attack by flinging it open. The knob rattled a few times before another bang, much lower on the wood, rang out.

“Oh _ha ha_ , alchemist!” Vriska barked through the door. “John’s pulled that trick before! Get out of your rest sack and haul Fussyfangs out of her recuperacoon! We’re gonna disembark soon, and I don’t feel like kicking a hole in a door on my ship to make _yoooooooour_ scrawny ass get off!” There were more banging noises after that, but only those created by feet stomping away.

“I see John was unable to stall his captain for us,” Rose muttered.

“He did what he could.” She sighed, moving to rise. “All right, I suppose we should get up before she returns and really does kick a hole in the door.”

“Wait.”

“Hmm?”

She caught Kanaya’s face in her hands, holding her still. She leaned up and kissed her, slow and deep. When they parted, she smiled and stroked at the hair that had fallen before Kanaya’s eyes. “Remind me of this when we stop for the day. I believe we promised something before that I would like to fulfill.”

Chuckling, she murmured, “Of course,” and kissed her.

\-------

Standing just off the docks, they all stared at one another. John had a black hat on his head and had pulled a blue scarf over his face at Rose’s insistence; she wore her usual ensemble to match. While Kanaya stood in simplicity, black blouse emblazoned with her color and sign and vivid red skirt, Vriska posed in her extravagant long coat and black trousers. Maplehoof was in their midst, entirely incognizant of the argument quietly building between human and troll.

“If I don’t get to ride the hoofbeast, no one gets to.”

“You do understand that we’re not on your Godforsaken ship and you have no call to order me around, yes?”

Vriska chuckled, hand drifting toward her temple. “Hey, I can still make you do whatever I want.”

John caught her hand and brought it back down to her side. “ _Vriska_.”

“Oh come on! She’s asking for it!”

“I told you about using the Mindgrip on Rosie. It’s only been ten minutes since we got on land. Can we please try to get along?”

Silence.

“Okay, here. Vriska, you scared the hell out of Maplehoof back when we met Rosie and Miss Kanaya. She probably won’t let you ride her. Rosie, it’s been almost two weeks since Maplehoof really got to walk around. If you ride, it’ll probably make her tired pretty fast. So the best thing to do is just lead her and let her get used to land again. Okay?”

Silence.

Kanaya poked Rose in the ribs; John poked Vriska in the back. They both jumped and frowned at their respective attackers. For another thirty seconds, the silence persisted.

“ _Fiiiiiiiine_ ,” Vriska grumbled.

“All right,” Rose sighed. Kanaya smiled at her for it.

Grinning, John clapped his hands together once before taking hold of Maplehoof’s reins. “Great! So where should we go first?”

“The seediest part of the city,” Rose replied.

He grimaced. “Rosie, Miss Kanaya’s in a pretty dress.”

“I am entirely aware of this.”

“Why do you want to take your nicely dressed squeeze to the wrong side of town? It’s ungentlemanly.”

She sighed. “Gallantry aside, we’re looking for people that have information on Noir. Short of kidnapping and interrogating highbloods, our best bet is to walk into a lesser hell.”

A long groan left him as he put his hand to his forehead. “Rosie, you are terrible.”

“I’m all for the grab and grill plan,” Vriska said. “ _Waaaaaaaay_ more fun than going and looking for that dumbass lowblood dealer.”

“‘That’ dealer?” Kanaya asked. “Are you saying you already know someone who deals in information?”

She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. “Well, duh. Why else would I bring us all the way here if I was gonna make us run around?”

“You _just_ said that trying to kidnap a highblood would be fun,” Rose said.

“Compared to trying to get on _this_ guy’s good side, it would be a hell of a lot of fun.” She smirked, elbowing John gently. “Bet we could scare them so bad they’d piss themselves.”

“I don’t really want to scare people, Vriska.”

She paused, looking up in thought. “What if you think of it like you’re pulling a prank?”

“Kidnapping someone hardly sounds like a prank,” Rose said.

Vriska laughed, throwing back her head to let out eight sharp barks. “On Alternia it is, little alchemist!”

Rose put her face in her hands, shaking her head.

Kanaya took one of her hands away and smiled, raising a brow. Still holding her hand, she turned to Vriska. “Let’s assume, for the time being, that japery is a less desirable form of action. Who is this informant that you know, and where can we find him?”

Her gaze drifted to their hands. For a long while, she looked at their fingers, the way Kanaya had enfolded Rose’s in her own. Eventually, she shrugged. “The bad part of town, of course. It’s where all the little lowbloods live anyway, so it makes sense that a mustard-blooded psychic freak would be there.”

“Doesn’t your having the Mindgrip place you among those ‘psychic freaks’? And if you’re so obsessed with your blood status, why do you know a lowblood in the first place?”

“Rosie, be _nice_.”

“Look, whatever,” Vriska said. She shrugged one shoulder, waving the hand of the other in the air dismissively. “I ran around with _eeeeeeeeveryone_ in the city when I was a little wriggler. Captor just wound up being the most interesting when we got older, and he’s always got his nose in some kind of information a lowblood shouldn’t. If we want to be boring and get info from someone without tying them up and threatening them, then we can go find him.”

The grin returned to John’s face. “Great! Lead the way, captain!”

After a moment, she reached up and, smiling, pinched his cheek through the scarf. She started away with a crook of her fingers over her shoulder, and the others followed. The streets were navigated as well as they could be, given the vast traffic conducted within them. Trolls of all builds moved here and there, bickering loudly between themselves, bartering louder at warestalls, and barking loudest as they tried to move around each other. Vriska turned aside those lower on the hemospectrum with the Mindgrip, and aimed kicks at those who could not be grasped when they did not move out of her way. John did his best to reach his long arm out and push the offenders to one side before they garnered boot marks on their shins.

Theirs was a makeshift chorus line with Vriska at the front and center of things. John walked near her right side; Kanaya and Rose trailed only slightly at her left. As their line was forced to shift in accordance with the winding road, Kanaya was reminded of a small fact: Rose hadn’t let go of her hand. The streets grew narrower, the occupants quieter, and the stones beneath their feet grimier; the grip around her fingers tightened. Though she herself glanced down at their hands every so often, Rose did no such checking; she simply held tight.

Vriska made them halt in front of a tall building, its surface peppered with many windows and pock marks of indeterminable origin. She faltered, crossing her arms and tapping at her biceps with her thumbs. “Aw, Jegus, where the hell did he wind up in this stupid hive stem again?”

“You don’t know what respiteblock he lives in?” Kanaya asked.

“Hey, I haven’t actually needed to get into cahoots with him for over a sweep. And the last time I came around, he accidentally ate some mind honey and blasted a big chunk out of this place. Killed a few trolls and nearly took my arm off.”

Rose lifted a brow. “‘Mind honey’?”

Vriska ignored her to uncross her arms and wave her hands over her head briefly. “Whatever.” She looked about a moment before striding forward and lifting a hand to her temple. A troll with cross-shaped horns halted in his exit from the hive stem and swung about to face her. “Do you know a guy named Sollux Captor?”

“Yes.”

She jerked a thumb at the building. “He lives here, right?”

“Yes.”

“What respiteblock?”

“Second floor up, twenty second respiteblock.”

“Is he here right now?”

“Yes.”

“Good boy.” She released him and shoved him aside. Once Maplehoof had been tethered to an alchemized post and the three others joined her, she shook her head and muttered, “Him and his Gog damn _twos_.”

Even in their ascent, Kanaya could not help but notice the complete lack of her hand being released. Though Rose strode up the stairs ahead of her, she let her hand trail behind to keep hold. Once, she glanced back. Kanaya smiled and was able to see the tiny change of her gaze to know the smile was returned.

The moment they arrived, Vriska knocked by way of kicking the metal door. “Captor! I know you’re in there! I want to buy some rumors!”

Silence.

She kicked the door eight times in rapid succession; Kanaya thought she saw a ding form in the metal. “ _Caaaaaaaaptor_! Open your stupid door and talk to me already!”

Rather suddenly, the door swung open. A man of height between Vriska and Kanaya stood there in a plain black shirt, short sleeved and baring a mustard colored Gemini sigil. His four horns swept up in gentle curves to the sides, sharply pointed at their tips. He looked at them from behind glasses with opaque red and blue lenses, and the top row of his fangs jutted out over his lip. With a faint trace of a lisp in his voice, he said, “What the fuck do you want, Serket?”

She grinned. “Information, Captor! What else?”

“What, this isn’t a friendly visit or something?”

A pause. “Are you serious?”

“No. Like I expected Spider-Bitch to drop in on me for a visit.” He tipped his head to one side and lifted a brow over his glasses. “Other than her, these are the freak brigandrifts, right?”

She faltered, lips parting. “No, these are members of my crew.”

He pointed past her shoulder. “I’m not stupid, Serket. They don’t have horns and they’ve got pale skin and shit. I figured they’d be with you if you ever came to buy any time soon.”

In the silence of Vriska’s mind failing to provide words, Rose stepped forward. “Why would you figure that?”

“Look, unless you’ve got a lot of boondollars on you, you’re not getting more information than what you probably really want.” He glanced up and down the hallway. “Get in here before you draw a crowd. And don’t bother the bees.” They followed his first order before fully considering the second. Once he had closed the door behind them, a faint buzzing drone suffused the quiet.

“I can’t believe you still mess with bees,” Vriska said.

“The honey keeps my lusus quiet, and their structures contain my info in coded form.” He moved into a room further inside; through the door, he could be seen closing the shutters of the windows. When he returned, he put his hands in his pockets and dropped his voice into casualness. “So you guys want to know about Jack Noir, right?”

“Why do you know that name?” Rose asked. Her scarf was suddenly tugged down her face by nothing, and she could not pull it back up. She stared at Sollux, at the single hand he had lifted and the red and blue energy flickering purple around his fingers.

“Same way I know you’re not a troll.” He shrugged. “Info broker.”

“ _Where_ did you get that information?” she asked.

“I don’t like having buyers in here too long, so we’re not going to haggle. You get one chunk of info and get out. You want more, you come back some other time.”

“That seems a terribly inefficient business model,” Kanaya said.

He looked at her; his withering stare was obvious through the glasses. “I’m still running my business.”

John stepped forward, pulling down his scarf and lifting his hands to placate. “Okay, okay. We did come here to get info on Noir, so let’s cut a deal.”

“Two hundred boondollars.”

He looked at Sollux’s outstretched hand blankly.

“You and your fucking _twos_ ,” Vriska muttered.

“And you and your fucking _eights_ , Serket. Are you paying or not?”

“Fine,” Rose said. She took her bag from her back and reached inside. In short order, she produced two crisp bills of many colors and put them in his hand. “Tell us everything you know about Noir.”

“Well,” he said, looking closely at the bills and the way their ink shifted in the light, “the highbloods are pretty interested in him. Rumor has it that he’s killed at least ten highbloods—nearly indigo blood—and a shit ton of everyone below that.” He pocketed the money. “Now, a while ago, people thought he was just some wild lusus or beast or something. Royals were pissed that some of their own were dead, and they took it out on the lowbloods. _Lots_ of new slaves made outta whoever didn’t get slaughtered over it.”

John scowled. “But it’s obvious it’s not any troll’s fault.”

He lifted a brow. “You think everyone doesn’t know that at this point? He fuckin’ fills the streets with blood wherever he goes. Not even the subjugglators do that, but they’re always looking for new paint.”

“Have you heard where he is now?” Rose asked.

“The last anyone really heard was that he had leveled some dumpy town in the desert.” His head turned slightly toward Kanaya; he sighed and shrugged, rolling his head to rake his eyes along the ceiling. “But it looks like he went underground or something. No one’s got any new rumors on his movements, but I think there’s been some killing somewhere to the north, maybe further west. Either way—”

Rose interrupted him in a quiet voice: “Why did you look at her?”

“I’m not looking to take your matesprit, brigandrift.”

“I didn’t insinuate you were. You looked at _her_ when you spoke of the desert.”

“I’m looking at all of you. You’re all looking for Noir.”

“But there’s no one who knew there were survivors from the desert who _wanted_ to find Noir—except for us.” Her eyes narrowed slowly. “Who are you selling us out to?”

“What? I’m not doing that.”

“Then why look at her like that?”

“Rosie, I think you’re being overprotective of Miss Kanaya.”

“No,” Vriska said. “I don’t like it either.” Her hand moved toward the pocket of her coat. “Why’d you figure they’d be with _me_?”

“Because you’re always the one in the middle of the newest and fanciest shit storms. Alchemy’s pretty fancy.”

In less than a heartbeat, Rose had drawn a gun and a Thorn; Vriska held her shining set of dice. John needed no prompting to bring out his hammer, and Kanaya only needed an instant to reach into Rose’s bag and take out her chainsaw.

“I made my crew swear to keep alchemy a secret when it wound up being just John and me who could do it,” Vriska said.

Kanaya and Rose started in unison. Kanaya whispered, “John _and_ you?”

“Shut it a minute, Fussyfangs.” Her frown darkened. “And I’m damn sure that these two never told anyone about what Lalonde doing being _alchemy_. None of my crew would ever sell us out, and there’s no way these two would ever go blabbing about this. How do you know what they’re doing is alchemy?”

He shrugged. “Information broker.”

“Not good enough,” Rose murmured. “Where did you get your information about us?”

“Got any more money in that weird ass bag?”

“Certainly more than enough to pay for the bullets I’m going to put in your skull if you don’t answer me in the next thirty seconds.”

Silence.

“Twenty-three, Captor.”

Silence.

“Twenty. Nineteen. Eighteen. Seventeen.”

“You think I can’t just make you not pull the trigger?”

“I might’ve only ever controlled you half the time when we were little, but that was when we were little,” Vriska said.

“Twelve. Eleven. Ten. Nine.”

With a long sigh, he said, “Fine. I got it from—”

A powerful voice rattled through the shutters and the other room: “ _Sollux Captor_.”

He spun about to stare into the room.

Vriska’s mouth dropped open. “Oh holy fuck.”

“ _We are aware of your current patrons, lowblood. If you do not surrender them to me, I will take this building by strong force_.”

“Oh holy _fuuuuuuuuck_!” Her look of shock vanished; rage filled her face. “You sold us out to _Zahhak_?”

“No—that’s not what’s going on!”

“ _You have ten seconds, Captor_!”

Vriska opened her mouth to shout an order. Sollux moved first. One hand he thrust upward, toward the wall opposite the room; the concrete shattered and was blasted away clean through to the outside. The other he swept up and closed tight. They were each lifted from their feet. With his empty-handed throw, they were launched through the hole. They landed on the roof of the next building, but not before seeing the hive stem rattle and crack. A deep rumble sounded; the building tilted. Before it collapsed, Sollux flew through the hole and came to hover beside them, surrounded by flickering purple energy.

“Run!” he shouted.

“To fucking _where_?” Rose shouted in reply.

He opened his mouth, but the building trembled beneath them. He caught them again, flying up and around the next building before bringing them down to the streets. “Get the fuck going! I’ll get to you after you’ve gotten away from him!”

John’s arm shot out to grab him by the collar. “We’re not going anywhere until you tell us why you sold us out!”

“I didn’t sell anyone out, you colossal tool! Pyrope knows you exist, and she wants to hunt you down! Zahhak is just her hunting woofbeast when she can’t use her dragon!”

“ _Captor_!”

“Just—just get the hell out of here before he brings down a building on you! I’m going to get us out of this!”

Rose and Vriska opened their mouths to argue, but Kanaya and John caught them by the wrist. They hauled them down different alleyways, sprinting away in a clatter of feet and harsh breathing. Eventually, Rose pulled her hand free; she only pulled up her scarf and did not stop running. They burst onto a busy square, dodging around trolls or simply shoving them aside. There was little more reaction than the rare snarl of a reprimand or a stream of cursing, and they crossed the square with little delay.

In the new labyrinth of alleys, they pulled each other in uneven turns this way and that. They backtracked and zigzagged; they followed straight paths and swerved around sharp angles. Rose glanced backward so often Kanaya was forced to halt her far more than once before she slammed against an obstacle. Behind them, the sounds of shouting grew louder and were swiftly drowned out by more great smashing of stone and roars of Sollux’s name.

Kanaya stumbled. Rose caught her smoothly and stopped their sprint. She looked around before pulling her into a dead-end barred by a high chain-link fence. She pushed Kanaya up against the wall and held her there by the elbows. They panted together in broken rhythm. While Rose bowed her head, Kanaya looked about and swallowed down the muggy air.

“I don’t,” Rose gasped, “I don’t think—no, we’re probably still being followed.”

“It’s impossible—for one troll to track three targets—targets at once.” She swallowed hard, letting her head drop. “Listen. Listen—the shouting is growing quiet.”

Her head lifted slightly. “I can’t hear—much breaking rock.”

“But...now what do we do?”

She did not respond.

“Where do we go? There’s—nowhere we agreed upon meeting if we were ever separated.” She looked toward the fence. “Should we try to get back to the docks?”

“I don’t think Captor would think to go there.”

“But now we have something. Noir may be to the north.”

“ _May_ be. We need more information before we—” Her breath caught; her grip weakened. She looked to the way they had come. “Oh my God, Maplehoof. My—my _horse_ , Jesus _Christ_ she’s going to get killed!” She turned to run. When Kanaya caught her elbow, she was naturally jerked back. Her gaze rose; her eyes widened. She spun back about and shoved Kanaya toward the fence as hard as she could.

The wall they had been pressed against exploded with a screech.

Kanaya slammed down on the ground beyond the molten remains of the fence, sliding painfully on her back as shattered bricks fell around her. She fumbled in her rolling over, ears ringing as she pushed herself up to hands and knees. Shaking her head once, she looked back.

Rose was half buried in rubble, hands still holding the Thorns. She was not moving.

Past the muffling quiet of the stone dust, Kanaya heard the strike of boots on the street. She scrambled back to some semblance of standing and rushed back to the rubble. Dropping her chainsaw, dropping to her knees, she snatched at the bricks piled on Rose’s back and began to fling them away. She saw the strange angle that spoke of broken bones in one arm; she saw blood blossoming on the white sleeve. She kept digging.

A voice broke through the dust: “I want the alchemist!”

The bricks were piled high; she could not see Rose’s legs. Her eyes fell upon the Thorns. In fiercest haste, she grabbed Rose’s hand to keep it wrapped around the needle and pulled it back and around to stab at the stone. Nothing happened.

“Whoever the fuck you are, lowblood, you get the hell out of here before I blow your head off!”

She held back the scream that was building in her throat and stabbed the stone again. Nothing. Panic swarmed in her chest. She hit the Thorn against the stone faster and faster. Nothing and more nothing. Her eyes widened. In a breaking whisper, she said, “Just _disappear_!”

Lightning crackled over the stone, flashing bright green in the new dust of the destroyed bricks. A bolt of blue energy screeched and flashed by, so close to her head she felt the heat on her ear. Scrambling, she pulled the Thorns out of Rose’s hands before grabbing her chainsaw. Both she crammed into the bag on Rose’s back before hauling her bodily into her arms. She ignored the way blood came from her mouth to stain her scarf and sprinted back over the ruined fence and around the nearest corner.

Heavy footfalls began to follow. Another shout of “Lowblood!” echoed along the alley walls. She slipped on a grease slick leaking from garbage receptacles, spinning so she landed on her back. Rose’s head knocked hard enough against the bottom of her chin that she felt her fangs slice her lip. She rolled to one side and got her feet beneath her.

“ _You fuckin’ lowblood_!”

Kanaya did not turn around to face the man who screamed. She bolted down another alleyway, dodging the blast that threatened her legs. More corners were weaved around; more shouts were ignored; more blasts were avoided. Her breathing began to catch in her chest. Glancing back for just an instant, she turned another corner. When she turned back, another fence lay before her. She tried to skid to a halt, but slid on another grease slick. She managed to spin on her heel enough to bear the brunt of their crash on her shoulder. It left her staring back at the way they had come, and she panted. Her legs trembled with weariness and terror alike. She could hear the footfalls drawing closer.

A crack rang out from above. It was not the sound of a gunshot. When she looked up, she saw a feminine figure with long, lush hair and great curling horns standing on the low rooftop with a long whip in hand. She snapped it once more, and the footfalls halted immediately.

“Up here, highblood!” she shouted.

“Where’s the fuckin’ alchemist?” he roared.

A much higher voice rang out with great cheer. “Here I am!”

Another crack; there was a green flash that sped by, and a massive explosion of stone sounded off. If the man made a noise, it was lost in the racket. Behind her, the fence suddenly rattled. She jumped back, turning about. A tall man with a mohawk and enormous horns, spreading out and curving up sharply, stood there. Grimacing, he tightened his grip on the fence and pulled. The bolts holding it to the walls creaked. He relented a moment, took a deep breath, and heaved. The fence broke away, and he threw it aside.

“Come on!” he said.

More noise behind her made Kanaya whirl about once again. The troll from above had jumped down; a human woman with long black hair and a rifle came about the corner. At the sight of Rose, the woman faltered and a pained grimace came to her face.

The troll woman caught her shoulder and shook. “We’ve gotta go!”

She swallowed and nodded once. She dropped the rifle; it disappeared. Kanaya took a step back, eyes widening. When the man touched her shoulder, she jerked away and put her back to one wall. She bent at the waist, holding Rose closer, tighter.

“We’re here to help!” the human said. She pointed past the man. “Come on, this way!”

Kanaya frowned. Rose’s breath was slow against her throat. She felt heat spreading through her blouse where her broken arm was pressed between them.

“Come on!”

She glanced down at Rose’s face. Her skin was ashen.

“Miss Kanaya, _please_!”

She started, looking up at the woman. There was pleading in her eyes behind her round glasses, and skittishness in her gaze when she looked to the side.

“We don’t have time to argue about this,” the troll woman snapped. She surged forth, pushing the human with one hand and Kanaya with the other. The man caught Kanaya when she stumbled, steadying her and guiding her forward. When the human ran ahead, Kanaya hesitated for only a moment before following.

The alleyways were slipped through, but abruptly abandoned at the turn of a corner. They came to a stop before a small, dingy bar, and the human threw open the door; she remained to slam it closed behind them. They dashed through a deserted main room and past the bar. The next room seemed another dead end, but the man stood on his toes to pound a fist on one of the bricks. The wall slid aside with noisy grinding to reveal a door. The troll woman pulled the door open and ushered Kanaya inside.

A staircase carved into the stone stretched down into the ground, winding until it was lost to sight. Lanterns hung from the ceiling, glowing brightly. The man took point, hurrying carefully down the stairs with the human behind him, Kanaya behind her, and the troll at the end of the line. They made their way down, down, down so deep Kanaya could feel the deep chill of the stone seeping into her skin. Eventually, they arrived at another door, crafted of metal with a slat at eye level. The man bent slightly after knocking firmly.

The slat slid open to show muddy eyes. “Who cried the Vast Expletive while bound in irons?”

“The Signless Sufferer, preacher of a united and equal hemospectrum,” the man replied.

The door squealed when it opened to reveal a small, smiling woman. “Welcome back, Tavros.” She stepped aside to let them pass. When Kanaya walked through the door, she stared.

A cavern lay before her, stretching wide and deep. More lanterns hung here and there, casting light down upon the trolls gathered within. There were clusters scattered about: bent over tables; examining maps affixed to the walls; or simply talking fervently amongst themselves.

“Oh holy hell— _Rosie_!”

A man with blood smeared all down his face was standing before her, skin pale and damp with sweat where the blood did not sit. Kanaya retreated when he reached a hand toward Rose. Heart still pounding, she could only think to bare her teeth at him. Slowly, he lifted his hands.

“Calm down, Miss Kanaya,” he murmured. “It’s me. It’s John. I’m not going to hurt her.”

The human woman moved to stand at his side. They were greatly disparate in height, but she felt the need to look back and forth between their faces. They were befuddling in their near identicalness, and she stared. The woman said, “It’s okay. I promise we won’t hurt her—we’re going to help. Here, we should put her down.” She gently touched Kanaya’s hand. “Come on. You’re really worried about her, right? You’re worried and scared, and that’s okay. Let’s put her down. Then me and John can start patching her up.”

Kanaya breathed. Slowly, she nodded. John and the woman led her to a table, swiftly vacated by its prior owners. She set Rose carefully upon its surface. Gingerly, she pulled the scarf from her face and took the hat from her head. Almost as an afterthought, she shuffled the bag from her shoulder. She stared at the break in her arm and the dust coating her clothing. Standing by, she watched as John and the woman moved in on opposite sides of the table and laid their hands on Rose. In a daze, she stared as they started to examine her. A great desire to pull them away filled her, and she stepped forward to do so.

A hand closed on her wrist. It pulled her back and turned her around. For a moment, she did not recognize who stood before her. Even the growling sigh did not fully register. It took the man’s words to reach her.

“Gog fucking dammit, Kanaya. You told me you weren’t going to go on a ridiculous fucking adventure with this witch-bitch. Now look what you’re getting into. You make me look like a complete nooksucking waste of a moirail.”

Kanaya wrapped her arms around Karkat as tightly as she could. She put her face against his shoulder when he returned the hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hello there almost the entire rest of the cast. I was wondering when we'd finally meet.
> 
> And look, more surprises and mysteries came with you.


	10. Traitors, So Called

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fan art relevant to this chapter:
> 
> [Angerliz](http://angerliz.tumblr.com/): [I'm here with you, darling](http://angerliz.tumblr.com/post/9700601255/im-here-with-you-darling-so-heres-that).

She heard the door open and close, but did not turn about. She simply listened to the shuffling footsteps until they stopped a pace behind where she sat in her chair.

“So why’d they leave her arm broken like that if they can just fix everything with their freaky magic?”

“Jade said they were more concerned with healing the fractures in her spine and repairing the damage done to her organs by her ribs before her energy gave out. Healing with alchemy wears on the injured party. If they’d tended to anything beyond the aforementioned injuries, she might have died from being overtaxed.”

“Oh.”

“I wouldn’t have thought,” she murmured. She trailed off, stroking Rose’s hair and brushing it away from her face.

“Thought what?”

“How large of a following you have,” she said. “I wouldn’t have thought all your ranting of rebellion would ferment something so vast.”

Unseen by her, he shrugged. “I’m a natural born leader. Sure, it helps that most everyone is completely retarded and needs a badass to lead them.”

A pause. “Karkat?”

“Yeah?”

“Please say what you want and be done with it.”

“Huh? What would I be saying? What, to get something out of my system? Yeah right. It’s not like I have any anger pent up in me waiting to be unleashed like a furious tidal wave made of word-knives. Not at motherfucking all, no. Because it’s not like I have a moirail who got herself mixed up with a witch-bitch that not only put her in insane danger just by existing but is actually making her sit here just staring wistfully at her Gog damn face like she’s the most pity-sick grub ever to exist.

“And it’s not like I’m, y’know, _failing_ at being a moirail because I didn’t take the two fucking minutes to write ‘you probably shouldn’t go to the capitol city _ever_ because it’s full of psychos out for your crazy witch-bitch’s blood, but if you have to you need to go be really careful,’ or that I feel like an asshole for never saying this is what really what I go when I leave for months because I didn’t want you fucking fussing like you always do. But no, I’m not mad enough to shake the witch-bitch’s head right the fuck off her scrawny shoulders for putting you in danger because she is honestly a bigger bitch than that psycho Serket and that’s a pretty tall fucking order to—”

“Karkat.”

“ _What_?”

“Breathe, for one.”

He scowled, but went quiet to draw breath.

“And for another,” she said firmly, “please stop calling my matesprit a ‘witch-bitch.’”

“But she _is_!” he barked. “She’s the reason you’re in all this hoofbeast shit to begin with!”

“And because I have her, I do not regret it. Please do not refer to her as you have been. In my presence at the very least, Karkat.”

He opened his mouth wide, but stopped short of beginning to scream anew. He shoved his hands into his pockets and mumbled, “Fine.”

“Thank you,” said Kanaya. She took a deep breath, turning to look at him. “Is that all you didn’t want to say?”

Karkat growled low in his throat, kicking the ground with his heels as he moved to stand beside her. “Yeah.” He regarded Rose with a slight tilt to his head. She lay on a narrow table-cum-bed, the trio residing in one of the small rooms carved into the natural cave structure. Her left arm was bound in a sling; a rough cast held the reset bones in place. There was still a trace of blood on her rolled-up sleeve, and another was on the scarf folded by her head. Her face was pale, made sickly by the small lantern hanging from the ceiling. He saw beads of sweat on her forehead.

“What’s wrong with her _now_?” he asked.

Kanaya looked at him; he gestured to Rose’s face. When she understood, she let out a sigh. “Do you remember when I wrote to you and said she’d taken ill?”

“Yeah. So?”

“It was less an illness and more a side effect of using too much alchemy, and too much alchemy on herself.” She did not hesitate in pulling her sleeve down over the heel of her hand to dab at the sweat. “She’s going to have a fever and she’ll be weak.”

A shrug. “Then we’ll make sure those highbloods don’t find her.” He grumbled a sigh, scratching his head. “I seriously don’t know why you’d ever use alchemy. Nitram and Megido have perfectly good psychic powers, but they’re all over that moron Harley to teach them more of that shit.”

She started, looking at him again. “Vriska said something about being able to learn alchemy, but she was the only one able to perform it. Her crew was unable to.” She blinked slowly, eyes dropping. “If trolls under your lead can use alchemy, that means she was telling the truth.”

“Yeah, probably for the first time in her fucking life.”

“Have you seen them accomplish it?”

“Yeah, but it’s not like the wit—like Lalonde with her freaky wands. They have to draw all this bullshit around the thing they’re fucking with. Some complete fucking nonsense about chemicals and makeup and needing to understand the flow of energy _bluh bluh_.”

“Oh.” She turned back to Rose, caressing her cheek with the back of her thumb. “I suppose it’s a bother, then.”

“It’s a big order of hoofbeast shit is what it is.” A pause. He sighed. “Kanaya, this is stupid. Come out of here.”

“But—”

“No one’s gonna come in and mess with her. I want you to get away from her so you can stop flipping your shit for a while.”

“I am not—”

“You looked like you were going to tear off the giant human’s hands. You are flipping your shit, so you’re going to get out of this room for a little while. You can come back when you’re not so freaked out.” He paused. “If it makes any difference, that guy and the other human who looks exactly like him really want you to come talk to them.” Another pause; he set his hand on her shoulder. “I’m trying to keep my moirail sane. Just come with me.”

She hesitated.

“I’ll even post a guard to make sure no one comes in but you or me.”

Slowly, her lips curled in a weak smile. “I’d almost forgotten how obstinate you are.”

“Yeah, and I almost forgot how much of a flighty broad you are. Come on.”

Once she had dabbed off the sweat on Rose’s brow and set a kiss there, she did. Karkat snagged the elbow of the first troll they passed in the hallway and ordered his post. The man saluted, fingertips to temple with a slight bow, before complying. Brows rising, Kanaya followed him through the winding halls of the caverns. They arrived back in the central cave in short order, and John and the human woman bolted upright from where they had been leaning on either side of the hall’s opening.

“Hey there, Miss Kanaya,” John said. “How’s she looking?”

Quietly, she said, “It seems she already has a fever.”

He grimaced. “I’m sorry. Me and Jade did our best to stop that.”

She blinked once; she shook her head with a smile. “I’m certain you’re responsible for saving her life. There’s no need to apologize.”

The woman darted around her to stand at John’s side, grinning and showing off her buck teeth. She elbowed him gently and said, “I told you she wouldn’t be mad.” She reached out abruptly to catch one of Kanaya’s with both of hers. “It’s really nice to meet you, Miss Kanaya! I mean, aside from all the running away we did together before. I’m Jade Harley, John’s little sister.”

She stared, looking between the two of them. “Oh.”

John dropped a hand on Jade’s head, ruffling her hair. “We don’t look alike at all, huh, Miss Kanaya.”

She blinked again. “Are...you being sarcastic?”

“We’re not as good as Rosie,” John said with a grin.

“If we’re done acting like a bunch of wrigglers,” Karkat snapped, “then let’s get down to real business. Someone double-crossed your asses to the highbloods.”

“ _Ohhhhhhhh_?”

Kanaya started, turning to see Vriska pushing her way through a group of trolls. There were tears in the hem of her coat, and splotches of mismatched blood on her clothes. A vivid blue bruise was rising on one cheek, but she waved John away when he summoned his hammer.

“And _hoooooooow_ would we have gotten betrayed, lowblood?”

He sneered at her, drawing a sickle from the holsters on his hips and pointing it at her. “Don’t you fucking call me that as an insult, you psycho. My name is Karkat Vantas, and from this point forward you’re going to listen to me.”

Her lips curled in a dark smile. “Really? _The_ Karkat Vantas, the same guy that Terezi is so black for? _Woooooooow_ , what an honor! Want me to kiss your hand?”

“You can fucking suck my bulge, Serket.”

She laughed at him. “So if we were betrayed, who did it? And don’t say me, Vantas. It wouldn’t be any fun at all if my silly dumb-boy matesprit _actually_ got caught for that bounty.”

He scowled. “Well shit. You were my top suspect.”

“And what of the informant?” Kanaya asked. “The hunter—Zahhak? He said he was aware of Captor’s patrons.”

“Yeah, and Captor knew that John and Lalonde aren’t trolls, and that they use alchemy.” She sneered, huffing a snarl through her fangs. “That asshole probably _did_ sell us out. Double-crossing fits that twos shit he’s obsessed with.”

“But how did he get that information in the first place?” John asked.

“Because I gave it to him,” said Karkat.

They turned upon him with varying speed: Kanaya spun to stare at him; John turned evenly with lowered brows; and Vriska shifted with the slow pace of a hunter spotting prey.

“ _Yoooooooou_ told him about us?” she asked in a murmur. “Oh, Vantas, that was a _baaaaaaaad_ idea. You tried to fucking sell me out?” Her hand moved toward her pocket.

Kanaya stepped between them, holding up a hand and saying, “ _Wait_.” She turned to Karkat, eyes wide, and put her hands on his shoulders. “You—you _didn’t_ , did you? You wouldn’t have told him about us.”

“Yeah I would have.”

“Why?” John snapped. “We nearly got killed because you told him about us! You put your _moirail_ in danger!”

He leaned around Kanaya to scowl at the man. “I would cut off my hand sooner, you fucking idiot.”

Jade moved to stand in front of John, lifting her hands to placate. “No, don’t get angry at him! I told Karkat! You sent me a letter saying you were coming to the city, and I told Karkat so he could try to make sure you all stayed safe!”

Karkat nodded once. “I told Sollux about you guys so he would be able to tell me if you went to him. He wouldn’t tell that sweaty freak about you.”

“And what of the highblood that fired upon _us _?” Kanaya asked. “Did you tell _him_ about us as well?”__

A throat was cleared, and they all turned to find the troll duo from before standing there. The woman said, “That was Eridan Ampora. He doesn’t deal with lowbloods, so there’s no chance he would have gotten the information from Sollux.”

Vriska’s jaw dropped. “ _Ampora_? What the fuck is he doing in a _city_?”

The man smiled anxiously. “Me and Aradia figure he might have gotten his info as a highblood, not from Sollux or any of us. I think he’s probably trying to get on Feferi’s good side.”

Karkat slapped his hands to his face. “Oh for Gog’s grub-fucking sake.”

“Karkat, Tavros has a good point,” the woman said.

He threw his hands into the air, baring his fangs as he shouted, “No he doesn’t! None of you idiots have a good point when you bring up that nook-whiffing highblood! I’ve told all of you to not bring her up and you keep fucking doing it! For the millionth time, _we are not working with her_!”

“Karkat, come on!” Tavros said, lifting his hands. “She wants to help us!”

“She’s a fucking highblood! She’ll kill us the minute she has what she wants, and I am not about to start discussing her when we’ve got so fucking many alchemists here! We’re trying to _overthrow_ the highbloods, not give up and submit to them!”

“It wouldn’t be submission,” Aradia said. “Sollux has talked about this at length with her, and she’s repeatedly said that she wants to abolish the slave trade, as well as the practice of using psionics to power the Empire’s warships.”

“Yeah, and she wants to replace psionics with alchemy! Either way, we’d be giving her power, and I’m not going to entertain this retarded train of thought any—”

There was a resounding metallic crash that sounded from the hallway; a wail soon followed. In unison, Karkat, Tavros, and Aradia abandoned the argument and bolted down the hall. Jade and John followed immediately, their faces growing pale. Vriska and Kanaya looked on in confusion, but Kanaya went after them a moment later.

The door had been blasted off clean its hinges and across the wide hall; it lay crumpled against the cracked wall. The troll that had been posted was on the ground before the twisted metal, whimpering in pain and terror. When Tavros tried to grab the man and haul him away, a burst of green lightning struck the ground before him and created an explosion of tiny stones and dust. Aradia heaved him back in turn, and John and Jade moved in front of the trolls. Kanaya came up behind them, leaning around John to see.

Rose was on her feet, but barely. She was half slumped against the doorframe, legs shaking visibly. She stared at the troll and the door and wheezed as she breathed. Her eyes darted about, looking here and there with panic rising in her face. Sweat dripped from her chin; she blinked only when it ran into her eyes. There was darkness surrounding her eyes not made by the shadows cast by the lanterns overhead. Karkat made to take a step forward, but John held him back. Instead, Jade moved half a pace forward without lifting her feet and raised her hands.

“Rose,” she said gently. “Rose, calm down. You’re okay. It’s okay. No one’s here to hurt you.”

Her unbroken arm snapped up, but it trembled and assured that the Thorn could not be aimed accurately. She narrowed her whitening eyes and tightened her grip.

“ _Rosie_ ,” John said. “Don’t do it. Don’t use any more alchemy right now. You know damn well what’ll happen if you do.”

Her legs wobbled; she struggled against their attempt to collapse. Her struggle failed, and she fell heavily to the floor. She managed to sit up, legs sprawled, and continued to aim the Thorn at them.

Very slowly, Kanaya stepped around John. She stopped moving when the needle was turned toward her. She murmured, “Rose.”

The grip on the needle faltered. Her eyes widened; the panic on her face lightened slightly.

She took a step forward. “It’s all right.” She took another step, holding her arms to the side with her palms facing Rose. “It’s all right.” She went slowly, and she stretched out a hand when she drew near. A tiny collective hiss sounded behind her when she touched the end of the needle, but nothing happened. She pushed it to one side and took another step in. Her hand moved to Rose’s wrist, and traveled up her arm to her shoulder as she took a final step and crouched down. When her knees touched the ground, she brought up her other arm and held Rose’s face in her hands.

“It’s all right,” she whispered. “I’m here.”

Rose stared at her. Sweat ran into her eyes and she closed them hard against the sting.

Kanaya leaned closer. “You don’t have to worry. I’m fine.”

Her eyes opened slowly; the color had returned to them. She let go of the needle and her hand drifted to Kanaya’s arm. She felt at the cloth of her sleeve, where it was rolled up to the elbow. Hand trembling, she closed her fingers around her sleeve and held tight.

“I’m here with you, darling,” Kanaya murmured. “It’s all right.” When Rose’s eyes slid shut and she tipped forward, she caught her against her chest and held her close.

\-------

Dave Strider had no love in his heart for horses. He had little love to spare for an animal that could collapse his skull with one kick, and even less for one that was perpetually out of place in a city. Cities were where his heart dwelled happiest, and he had never enjoyed journeys to the Harley estate in the countryside. Inevitably, he would be forced to deal with Maplehoof in some capacity, and it would almost always be when he wanted to talk to Rose, alone, about progress made in the resurrection formula. She loved the dumb beast, and he would have to walk beside the thing as it trotted along with Rose in the saddle should he want to talk.

When Equius Zahhak came out of the rubble of five destroyed city blocks with naught but Maplehoof in tow, though, Dave took the horse’s reins gently in hand and guided her away. He stood with his head against her face, eyes closed and hands clenched shut.

“Is the mutant able to commune with beasts?” Equius asked.

Terezi struck him across the shin with her cane, grinning up at the tall man when he turned away from Dave. “My pet and his abilities have nothing to do with the matter at hand. Did you or did you not recover any of the alchemists as I ordered?”

Sweat began to bead on his forehead and neck. His head turned slightly as he looked away behind his cracked sunglasses. “No. I could not comply with your order, lowblood.”

She hit him again. “Legislacerator or nothing, Zahhak. The Bar assigned you to me, so you have to follow my orders. Order one is always going to be ‘call Terezi Pyrope either by name or title, not by blood class.’ And I’m not a lowblood anyway, so don’t be stupid.” She giggled. “So. You really didn’t catch any of them. Well, I smell a _lot_ of dust and blood everywhere. Did you wind up killing them?”

“No.”

Dave opened his eyes and lifted his head. “Then what the fuck are you doin’ with my sister’s horse, Bruno?” He turned, letting go of the reins and walking to where the trolls stood. While he had considered himself of average to tall height, Equius, in his sleek outfit of black, non-cloth material, dwarfed him. There was no shame in having to look up to the man’s face; it made it easier for his face to twist into a sneer. He tilted his head slightly and set his hands in his pockets.

“Lemme educate you on this animal,” he said. “Name’s Maplehoof. She ain’t a bangtail, and she ain’t as much use as a flivver could be on this shitball you call a planet. My sister’s owned her for a long fuckin’ time. Pretty much most of her life on the horse’s end. That’s a pretty big fuckin’ deal for animals from Earth, and it’s an even bigger deal for an animal as fuckin’ _dumb_ as Maplehoof.”

Equius scowled, baring his teeth and the empty places from broken fangs. “Your language is excessively lewd, mutant.”

Dave swung back his arm to drive his fist up into the troll’s throat. When he gagged and stumbled back, Dave rammed his foot into his chest. He took his time in following Equius’ fall, drawing a gun from inside his coat almost lazily as he went. By the time Equius had gotten to his knees, Dave was standing over him and holding the gun to his forehead.

“Maplehoof doesn’t go anywhere unless my sister’s there,” he said. “If the horse is here and Rose ain’t, then we’re in a jam. Either she up and lammed off, or you killed her.” He pushed the gun into his head harder. “And seein’ all this Goddamn mess around us and hearin’ Pyrope sayin’ there’s blood in the air? Well, Bruno, it’s lookin’ pretty fuckin’ bad for you. I have a feelin’ you fuckin’ murdered my sister.”

“I have committed no murder, mutant.” He reached up and tapped the butt of the gun. It flew up and out of Dave’s hand at the force, landing with a loud clatter some distance away. Equius stood slowly, hands closing to fists at his sides. “You _assault_ me? You would try to kill _me_? Mutant, you presume much and do far more. It would only be appropriate for a highblood like myself to put you down like the wild woofbeast you—”

Terezi jabbed her cane between them, slapping them in the chest one after the other until they stepped back. Cackling, she walked to stand before Dave and looked up at Equius. “That’ll be all, Zahhak. If I need more from you, I’ll get into contact.” She flicked her fingers at him and said, “Now shoo.”

“I—”

Her grin vanished instantly to a slash of teeth shining with exasperation. “I said _shoo_. If you’re worried about what I’m going to do with my pet, he’s going to be punished for being out of place. Aside from that, it’s none of your business. Now get out of here.” She wrinkled her nose. “You smell _awful_ when you sweat, and I have things to attend to that require a clean scent palate.”

Equius opened his mouth, noise creaking up through his throat. He clamped his mouth shut with a snort and turned about. Without another word, he swept away into the wreckage and vanished in the dust and shadows.

Terezi spun about. Dave had turned away, hands back in his pockets, to stare at Maplehoof. She swung her cane to hit him full on the rear, sending him skipping forward with a yelp. “Go pick up your gun, Strider.”

He stood completely still.

“Strider.”

“Fuck you, Pyrope.”

“I said go pick up your gun.”

“And I said _fuck you, Pyrope_.”

“You better have a good reason for saying that to me.”

“You fuckin’ put the finger on my crew,” he said. “You sold ‘em out when you promised me you wouldn’t.” He turned to look at her, a new sneer pulling at his lips. “You grilled me about that letter Egbert sent and I told you they were going to come here. I told you, and you fuckin’ promised me that you wouldn’t nail ‘em. But oh, look, I got betrayed by a fuckin’ cop. Can’t ever trust a motherfuckin’ flatfoot, no matter what fuckin’ planet you’re on.”

Terezi swung the cane up and over to strike him on the top of his head. When he had bent at the waist and clapped his hands over the stinging skin, she moved in. Almost gently, she brought the carved dragon head under his chin and lifted his face. “You’re mocking the law again.”

He growled out, “It’s not like it hasn’t given me a reason to. How’s it justice if I always get my ass betrayed after makin’ an attempt to trust you?” Dave stood straight, glowering down from almost a foot taller than her. “You sold out my crew. Gimme a good Goddamn reason to not just get my sword and let the light into you.”

She set the tip of the cane on the ground and folded her hands over the dragon head. She tilted her head back to aim her face at him and sniffed the air.

“What, you actin’ like a fuckin’ bloodhound again? Gonna tell me I smell like rage that burns brighter than that fuckin’ death sun in your sky? Maybe that it’s a righteous fury comin’ off me in big waves of hot stink?”

“Nope,” she said. “You smell like fear.”

“I beg your fuckin’ pardon?”

“You’re terrified that this sister creature of yours is dead.” She tapped his foot with the toe of one boot. “You’re shaking with horror, not anger. Sure, there’s a little bit of anger, but it’s mostly fear.”

“So what if it is?” he snapped. “Yeah, fine, I’m scared for my little sister! And I’m scared because of the horseshit you pulled! If she’s dead, it’s your motherfuckin’ fault, Pyrope! You double-crossed me just so you could get the fuckin’ bounties on their heads! You _want_ them dead!”

A pause. Her head fell back and she cackled loudly. It took some time before her hysterics subsided, and she continued to giggle when she spoke again. “Oh, please. Why would I want them dead?”

“Maybe because we’re breakin’ the fuckin’ stupid law on this shitty planet? I don’t know, Pyrope, you’re the flatfoot. I’m pretty sure you’ve got some loophole to make sure we get lynched at the end of the day.”

Her grin broadened. “On the contrary! There are loopholes in the law to _prevent_ you from visiting the gallows!”

He faltered in speaking. He managed to say, “What.”

“ _You_ are not a troll,” Terezi said.

“I fuckin’ know that. Happy about it, too.”

“Yes, but you have to understand something. Alternian law applies only to Alternians—to trolls. If you are not a troll, not even a bylaw or special clause can be used to convict you. And it’s not like I’d be trying to convict you of anything when you’re my partner in seeking justice.”

Again, Dave faltered. “I’m your—partner?”

“Yep! I’ve basically deputized you. I need you in order to find Jack Noir, and based on what you’ve said, it’ll be easier to find him with the other alchemists. The official order from the empire is to kill you if necessary, but I want them captured and brought to us unharmed.”

“Then why’d you send that moron Zahhak to find ‘em?”

“Because he’s the only troll the Bar would assign to someone with teal blood. It’s not like I think he’s the most useful troll in the world.” She snickered. “But hey, now we have a lead about your crew! We know they’re here!”

“If they’re still alive,” he muttered.

“Oh, come on, Strider,” she replied. “Do you really think they’d get themselves killed by a dumb brute like him?”

A long silence.

“No,” said Dave.

Terezi cackled. “Then let’s go hunting for them ourselves!”

\-------

Three days passed before Rose gained steady lucidity. When she did manage to take to her shaky feet within those three days, Kanaya refused to let her wander far from the room, and never without the presence of herself or John, or Jade when she endeavored to foist her company upon Rose when John was her companion. For the most part, though, Rose slept. She drowsed; she napped; and she slumbered. She whispered with nightmares and panicked when she woke from them. Kanaya read her stories to lull her back into quieter dreams.

When a knock came to the John-repaired door, Rose was asleep, curled on her right side with her broken arm draped over her chest. Kanaya was sitting by her head, one hand holding a book open while the other stroked at Rose’s hair. She did not draw her hand away when the door opened, but she did close the book and set it in her lap.

Jade slipped into the room with a grin. In her hands she carried a tray of food. “Hi, Miss Kanaya! How’s Rose doing?”

She touched the backs of her fingers to Rose’s neck. “I think her pyrexia is subsiding. At the very least, she hasn’t been crying as much these last few times she’s slept.”

The grin slipped as she sighed. “Aw, geez. Her and her nightmares. I wish I could just reach into her head and shake them out, y’know?”

Kanaya looked at her a long, quiet moment. The quiet broke with the tiny laugh that popped from her mouth. She smiled and said, “I know very well.”

Jade’s grin instantly returned, and she trotted over to hand off the tray. Hands free, she pulled her rifle out of nothingness and tapped the gun’s barrel on a leg of Kanaya’s chair. Arranging the copy created to stand before the center of the table, she plucked the tray from Kanaya’s hands and set it upon the seat. Before Kanaya could stop her, she reached out with both hands and ruffled Rose’s hair furiously. When the response she received was a groan and Rose turning her face further into her pillow, Jade took her shoulder and shook her hard.

Kanaya finally came out of her shock to pull her away. “You can’t actually _shake_ night horrors out of a person!”

“I know. I’m trying to make her wake up.”

“ _Why_?”

“Because she needs to eat. She’ll just stay feeling bad if she doesn’t.” She wiggled a hand free and shook Rose again. “Come on, Rosie! Up an’ at ‘em!”

Rose mumbled into the pillow.

“Huh?”

She turned her face, opening one eye slightly. “To think...I almost missed you.”

Jade giggled, ruffling her hair once again. “It’s been almost a whole sweep, so you know you did. If you were on your feet and hadn’t had a bunch of your bones busted in the last little while, I’d hug you really tight. Come on, sit up. You need to eat.”

Rose did not reply. She looked about slowly and stopped when she saw Kanaya. Working her right arm out from beneath her, she reached to touch Kanaya’s knee. For a long while, she kept her fingers there, resting them lightly upon the fabric of her dress. When Kanaya wrapped her hand around hers, she let out a long breath and squeezed her fingers.

“Yep, she’s still here,” Jade said with a chuckle. “If you sit up and eat, I’ll let her sit next to you in bed.”

“Jade, you are a year _younger_ than me,” Rose mumbled. “Why do you act like a mother hen?”

“Well, none of you are ever gonna be motherly, and none of you are very good at taking care of yourselves. You especially.” She reached out once more, pushing and pulling gently to arrange Rose up against the wall. She then picked the tray up from the chair and looked at Kanaya, nodding her head toward Rose. Though she meant to hand it off to Kanaya, Rose leaned hard against her the moment she settled and dropped her head on her shoulder, eyes closing.

Jade puffed out her cheeks and stamped one foot. She snapped, “Rose Lalonde! For heaven’s sake, just sit up and _eat_! I haven’t poisoned anything, and I think it’s actually very good food that I’ve made here!”

A moment of quiet came before Rose let out a chuckle. “Jade, it’s terribly fun to vex you.”

“It’s terribly _mean_ of you,” she replied.

Smiling, Rose sat up properly. “Okay, okay, calm down. I’ll eat.”

“Good.” She handed the tray to Kanaya before sitting down in the chair she had made. “God, I really did forget how awful you can be.”

“Says the girl who nearly shook my head off to wake me up.”

“You wouldn’t get up! She wouldn’t at all, huh, Miss Kanaya?”

Kanaya’s brows shot up. “Er...that’s—that is true. You are notorious for being reticent to wake up properly.”

“I’m tired. It’s hardly a crime to want to sleep when you’re tired.”

“Oh, just hush and eat already,” Jade sighed. “If you do, I’ll tell you how Tavros and Aradia have been.”

“You’re making a lot of bribes, but I admit I’m curious about their being part of Vantas’ little rebellion. Do tell.”

“Miss Kanaya, could you please cram the bread into her mouth to make her stop talking?”

Rose and Kanaya looked at each other. With a sigh, Kanaya picked up the small roll and offered it. “You really should eat, darling.”

A pause. As she took the bread, she sighed, “All right.” She began to eat, but paused when Jade giggled.

“I wish we’d had you back on Earth, Miss Kanaya! You sure make Rosie happy! But I’m not surprised! If I liked ladies, it’d sure be nice if a pretty lady like you was all dizzy with me!”

“Dizzy?”

“In love! And Rose seems pretty darn dizzy with you, too!”

A flush entirely unconnected to the lingering fever came to Rose’s face.

“Say, Rosie, why didn’t you ever just up and tell us you like ladies?” She giggled again, lacing her fingers together and tapping her chin with them. “John probably would’ve wanted to go out on the town with you so you could both try to find someone!”

The flush grew darker; her head tipped down to try to hide it.

Kanaya sat forward, putting her hand on Rose’s leg as she went. “You said something about Tavros and Aradia, correct? Who are they?”

“Oh yeah!” Jade said. “Sorry, I forgot! Okay, those two trolls I was with when we first met? Their names are Tavros Nitram and Aradia Megido. They’re the trolls who took care of us when we came to Alternia. They’re really sweet people.”

“Rose did mention them in passing, though not by name. How did they come to be part of Karkat’s rebellion?”

“Well, he—Karkat I mean, not Tavros—he came out to the countryside—we live a little more to the west and north from here—and he preached about the highblood-lowblood problems and how he wanted to fix them.” She paused, glancing up and to the side in thought. “More yelling than preaching, though, and more saying lowbloods should rise up and overthrow the highbloods. But anyways, that was about a sweep and a half ago, around the time everyone else left the hive to go looking for Noir. Or becoming a pirate, if you’re John. So he—Tavros this time—and Aradia were all over it.”

She giggled again. “It gave Tavros a lot of confidence, actually. Karkat told him he had this great talent with animals, and he shouldn’t think he _is_ an animal for having brown blood. And Aradia hated the whole stupid difference from the start, so she joined right up.”

“What about _you_?” Kanaya asked.

Jade shrugged. “I never went to listen to him. I mean, I’m not a lowblood or anything. And I didn’t feel like getting funny looks here, too.”

“‘Too’?”

“Yeah. Back on Earth we got funny looks all the time when we left my grandpa’s estate. But if anyone got really rude, Bec just teleported them away. It was pretty funny when he dropped them in a pond or a river.”

Kanaya blinked. “In any case, how did you all come to be here in the city?”

“Oh right. So about two weeks ago, Aradia and Tavros came hurrying back from town with news from the other people who listened to Karkat. They said he’d started talking about this terrible demon that slaughtered an entire town and a bunch of lusii, and that he wanted all the lowbloods to band together to stand up to the demon.”

“And you understood it was Noir.”

“Yep! When they said he was going to be in the capitol city to talk to all his followers there, I said we should go there too, ‘cause maybe they’d have news about John and Rose and Dave.” She looked at Rose and pouted. “You’re really bad at sending letters.”

Rose shrugged. “I write to tell you I’m all right.”

“That’s not really a letter and you know it. Anyways, we came to the city and found Karkat, and he was completely surprised to see a human. But he said he saw _you_ , Rose, and when I wrote John next he said you and him were going to come to the city. So I told Karkat you guys would be coming, and he told Sollux. We were on the lookout for you guys for a long time before Zahhak started smashing the city. And that’s how we all found each other!”

An awkward silence fell on the room. Rose looked at no one, instead staring at Kanaya’s hand on her leg. Kanaya met Jade’s gaze, but Jade looked back and forth between them. She patted her hands on her knees, looking at the floor in thought. When an idea came to her, she hit both knees in unison.

“Rosie!” she said. “Rosie, I started teaching Tavros and Aradia alchemy! They’re actually pretty good at it!”

Rose looked up. “When did you start that?”

“A little after you guys left. They were really interested in learning it, so I decided to show them some basics without my catalyst.”

Kanaya spoke: “Then—trolls really can learn alchemy?”

Jade looked at her, surprise lifting her brows. “Well...yes? I haven’t tried to teach anyone else. It’s pretty hard to do alchemy if you don’t have a catalyst, but Tavros and Aradia still do their best.”

“Why haven’t you made them a catalyst?” Kanaya asked.

Her eyes dropped, and a sheepish expression came to her face. “I...don’t actually know how to make one. You can’t make one with a catalyst that already exists—you have to draw out the formula and everything, and I don’t know what it is. The only one who does is Rose.”

She turned to Rose; her gaze was not met. After a moment, she looked away and murmured, “Oh.”

A pause. Rose said, “Kanaya.”

“Yes?”

“Not everyone can do alchemy in the first place. I didn’t know trolls could. I would have offered if I knew that. And now I do know.” She looked up with a small smile. “Do you want to learn?”

For a moment, she was silent. Her brows rose, and her lips parted slightly. Rose continued to smile at her. When the moment passed, she smiled back. “Yes, I would like to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My notes for this chapter consisted of this:
> 
> Who the hell knows what and when do they know it?
> 
> My notes for the next chapter will probably consist of this:
> 
> Oh christ, how do I teach someone alchemy?


	11. Theories and Practice

It was another three days after the offer of teaching that Kanaya found herself asking, “Are you aware that your handwriting is remarkably tiny?”

“I never expected someone to read my notebooks. I can’t be blamed for that.”

“True. At least it’s legible.”

“Which is more than can be said about everyone else’s notebooks. We’ve all compared Dave’s handwriting to a baby’s scribbles at one point or another.”

Kanaya chuckled and trailed her fingers down the page. In the flickering light of the lantern above, her fingers cast blurred shadows on the sentences. Rose sat next to her at the table in their room, leaning back in her chair and watching her read. She turned the page over, holding it between her fingers to look at the diagrams and sketches accompanying the words. She set it back down and flipped back to the notebook’s first few pages to find the opening sentence. She opened her mouth to read aloud, but Rose beat her to it.

“Alchemy,” she said with her eyes closed, “is the science of altering matter. To become an alchemist, one must have an understanding of the elements that create the world. This includes chemistry, biology, and—optimally—a basic knowledge of physics. However, if one is in possession of an alchemic catalyst, a great deal of cheating can occur.”

“It doesn’t say that last part here.”

“It wouldn’t. I wrote that when I was thirteen, and we only received the formula for a catalyst when I was fourteen. And while it really is best to have a basic understanding of chemistry and physics and all that, a catalyst will allow you to skip over the years it took for us to get where we are.”

She hummed in a quiet response and began to thumb through the notebook. “You started writing in this book when you were thirteen?”

“I did.”

“Why only then. You started studying alchemy before then, didn’t you?”

“I’ve studied it since I was six.” She reached out with her unbroken arm, holding her fingers up until Kanaya slid the book along the table to her. “However,” she said, flipping pages, “thirteen, as you’ll recall, is when I started doubting my mother. I decided to make this notebook to write down all of the formulae and principles I thought important, as well as the discoveries _I_ made.”

She stopped turning pages and set her fingers atop a diagram complex enough for its components to spread across two pages. A transmutation circle made of an enormous epicycloid took up most of a page, its arcing lines coiling in a pattern around empty space that was so exact Kanaya thought it had been made by a spirograph. Around the main circle were stationed four smaller circles, scribbled there but filled with detailed symbols on the opposite page. Every last inch of the pages not devoted to the diagrams was covered in writing.

“What is this?” Kanaya asked.

“The resurrection formula,” Rose replied. “Though now I wonder if we should call it the formula to reach the elder gods.”

“Why haven’t you destroyed it?”

“There’s no reason to. I’m the only person who has this written down, and I have no intention of using it again. In any case, I dislike the idea of destroying knowledge, even if the ends it reaches are negative ones.” She flipped back a number of pages. “I’ve written down everything I know I know to be true in here. Ah, here it is.” She stopped on another pair of pages covered in writing and diagrams. The transmutation circle there was made up of triangles, overlaid and repeated over a dozen times to create something almost like a star.

“Is...this the formula needed to create a catalyst?”

“Got it in one. What tipped you off?”

“From what I know of your friends, I don’t think any of them have the patience necessary to copy all of this down?”

“Mister Harley did compliment me for its accuracy.” She sighed. After a moment, a small smile came to her. “I haven’t looked properly at this in a long time.”

“You never expected to teach any of this?”

“I don’t really know.” She shrugged before putting her elbow on the table and setting her chin in her hand. “I admired Mister Harley; I thought he was an excellent teacher. But I never really considered what I would do when I became an adult.”

A pause. “Have...you considered what you’re going to do once all of this is done?”

“What?”

“Once we’ve killed Noir. What do you intend to do?”

Another pause. Rose looked away. She drummed her fingers on the table once; she slid her hand along the table until her fingers bumped against Kanaya’s wrist. She laid her hand atop Kanaya’s. “I don’t know.”

She smiled and turned her hand over to hold Rose’s. “Well, you have promised that you would model a dress for me, so we have that to look forward to.”

“You’re going to hold me to that forever, aren’t you.”

“I intend to make you a lovely dress,” Kanaya said. “I would hardly consider that a negative.”

“I’m teasing you.”

“I know.”

Rose laughed. “I think you’ve grown bolder since I told you that I love you.”

“There’s a saying that goes ‘love makes fools of us all,’ isn’t there?”

“ _Time_ is actually the villain of the phrase, but love is just as treacherous.”

Kanaya smiled and lifted Rose’s hand to kiss her knuckles. “If you’re still set on making yourself sound unromantic, I’m going to tell you now that it won’t succeed. You’re too adorable to be unromantic. Also, you’ve started reading me human love poetry before we go to sleep. That automatically makes you permanently romantic.”

“All right, fine. I admit to my fumbling romantic overtures. Would you like to continue in this vein, or would you like to learn alchemy?”

“Much as I would like to do the former, your arm is still broken. I can wait.” Her smile grew wider at the sight of a faint blush coming to Rose’s cheeks, and she turned back to the notebook. “And I am honestly interested in learning. Where do we start?”

For a long few moments, Rose sat in silence. She stared at the table in thought and drummed her thumb on Kanaya’s hand. Eventually, she blinked and lifted her brow. “Here.” She took her hand away to tap the table with one finger. “Tell me what this table is made of.”

She looked at her.

“I’m being serious. What is this table made of?”

“Wood.”

“And I could explain further that it’s comprised of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and a couple other things—” She shook her head and sighed through her nose. “That’s not important. If you could change the wood into anything you wanted, what would you make?”

She paused. “A carving of something, I suppose.”

Rose smiled wearily. “We’ll have to instill some creativity in you that doesn’t involve clothing. All right, a carving.” She turned her fingers and held out the Thorn that appeared. “You said you used this to destroy the rubble that was on top of me. Use it to create a carving from the wood.”

Kanaya looked at her.

“And here I thought you’d stopped giving me funny looks when I talk about alchemy.”

“I don’t know where to start. I was panicking when I used alchemy before—I wasn’t even sure it would work.”

“Ah, but it did, and with the catalyst of another person. That shows you have some innate talent.” She put the needle in Kanaya’s hand, folding her fingers closed about it. “When using a catalyst, you don’t really have to worry about chemical composition. It’s designed to simplify transmutation. What matters most is understanding the flow of energy.”

“Karkat said something about that.”

Rose blinked and lifted a brow. “Jade didn’t say she was teaching him.”

“I think he’s only getting information secondhand from Aradia and Tavros.”

“Either way, he’s not misinformed. You always have to consider how much energy you are or aren’t using. Too little, and you won’t get the desired result; too much and you’re liable to make something explode. It’s really a wonder any of us still have our fingers.”

Kanaya laughed. “You’re trying to scare me off from this.”

“Not really. This is part of why alchemy wasn’t a regularly practiced science. Determining the energy needed for a transmutation is a shot in the dark. An alchemist has to have a sense of where the balance between enough and too much lies. Again, seeing as how you destroyed the rocks without blowing either of us up, I’d say you have that sense.”

“And I assume it’s one of the main reasons your Mister Harley developed the Green Sun Theorem.”

“Correct. The less energy of our own we have to expend, the better. For the most part, we don’t have to worry about assuring the energy output doesn’t exceed what our bodies are capable of, and this allows us to perform extraordinary alchemy. Now. Envision a simple carving.”

She sat and looked at the Thorn. She rubbed her thumb against it and felt the tiny lines that existed between the winding black and white. “A figurine?”

“Good. Put it in your mind. The size of it.”

She looked at her free hand, curling and uncurling her fingers. “Something that can fit in my hand.”

“Now the shape.”

“Troll. With my horns.”

“Good.”

For a moment, she turned the needle toward the table. She lifted the tip away suddenly. “How do I determine the energy necessary?”

Rose paused. She closed her eyes. She turned her hand again and took out the other Thorn. She held it close to the table. “Imagine...that you’ve actually done a carving by hand. Think of the time it would take to carve the figure, and the sort of effort necessary. It would vary based on the type of figurine—its size and complexity. Now take whatever you think of and condense it.” She tapped the table. When the flash had faded, a simple form, human in shape and wearing a hat, had appeared. She opened her eyes and looked at her with a smile.

Kanaya took a slow breath. She touched the needle to the table and concentrated. Her fingertips tingled; lines of lightning began to flicker down the needle from her touch. It danced onto the table, finding its way into the grooves of the wood. She did as she had been bade: she imagined a figure to match the one already created. Slowly, she lifted the needle. The wood, caught in the lightning, followed it. As it flowed upward, it began to change in mass and shape: it spread out to form the figure of a woman wearing a dress. When she let out her breath, the wood stopped following the needle but continued to flow into shape. The horns formed; she let her concentration cease. It was a small mistake: the energy surged with a pop and set the tip of one horn on fire.

For a moment, they sat there, Kanaya with shock on her face and Rose with her brows raised. When the moment passed, Rose chuckled, licked her fingers, and pinched the flame dead. She said, “Well done. You’ve now performed your _second_ feat of alchemy.” She wiped the smear of ash on her fingers off on her jeans and chuckled again at the shock that remained on Kanaya’s face. “Now just imagine what you’ll be able to do once we make your catalyst.”

She turned to look at Rose, eyes wide. “I did it.”

“Don’t look so surprised. You saved my life with alchemy before—it makes perfect sense that you’d be able to do something like this.”

She looked at the two figures. A smile broke on her face with the sudden sputter of laughter that came from her mouth. She almost spoke again, but had no real words to give. She settled for pulling Rose close for a kiss. When Rose returned the kiss, she laughed against her mouth and wrapped her arms around her.

\-------

The next day, Karkat snarled, “You assholes seriously can’t tell me now that this hoofbeast shit _isn’t_ magic.”

“Shh!” Jade hissed.

Karkat sighed and rolled his eyes, leaning against the wall. He along with John, Jade, Aradia, Tavros, Vriska, and Kanaya were gathered in one of the larger chambers of the cavern, watching Rose moving in the center. At her feet was her notebook and a piece of chalk attached to a long stick; her hand was too busy taking the sling from around her neck to hold either. Slowly, she unbent her elbow and winced. The wince became a full grimace when she tapped a needle against the cast around her arm and disintegrated it. Her face tightened briefly when she touched the needle to her skin, but she let out a sigh once the lightning had faded. After a moment of opening and closing her hand, she bent down and picked up the things at her feet.

“Vantas, I have no idea why you’ve joined us at the moment,” she said. She opened the notebook and turned to the page containing the catalyst formula. Holding the book open in one hand, she took the stick in the other and began to walk. As she went, she began to draw the transmutation circle. “If all you’re interested in is mocking science, then I suggest you leave. I have to concentrate on this.”

“Then why are you still talking, witch-bi—”

Jade, standing next to him, punched him on the shoulder.

“ _Lalonde_.” He inched away from Jade, rubbing his arm as he went. “I can’t believe we have to put up with this shit.”

Tavros leaned around Aradia to smile at him. “C’mon, Karkat, she’s going to make us alchemic catalysts!”

“ _Help_ you make them,” Rose said, voice vague with distraction.

His smile faltered. “But you’re the one who’s drawing the circle.”

“You’re the one who’s going to have the catalyst bonded with you,” John said. “If Rosie does everything, then that just gives her another catalyst.”

“And I’m happy with the Thorns,” she mumbled. She paused and rubbed out a line with her foot before drawing it again.

“So what _you_ do is give her the thing you want to be your catalyst,” Jade said. “When we all made ours, John gave my grandpa his favorite hammer, I gave him my favorite rifle, and Rose gave him her knitting needles. For you guys, I think the best thing to do is use your weapon.”

“So that’s why you made me bring my lance?” Tavros asked.

“Yep!” Jade replied. “So you’ll put it down in the middle of the circle, get on the edge opposite Rose, and do the transmutation. It’s not too hard.”

“Just don’t blow our hands off,” Rose mumbled.

John sighed. “Rosie, you’re being mean. No one’s going to do that.”

She hummed mildly. She strode to stand outside the circle and walked around it. She examined it with narrow eyes before coming to a stop. “All right, we can use it now.” She sank down on her knees and set the notebook aside. As she clapped her hands clean, she asked, “Who’s first?”

Metal clanked noisily as it was tossed down onto the stone floor, and she looked up from her hands. Two sickles lay in the middle, and she looked up further to see Karkat kneeling with his arms crossed and his mouth turned down.

“You’re fucking joking,” she said.

He lifted his middle finger and sneered. “You said that asshole demon could only get killed with this alchemy bullshit. Make me a weapon that can take off his head.”

“You don’t know the first thing about alchemy.”

He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. “Harley’s been teaching me.”

Everyone turned to look at Jade, but Rose was the one who said, “Since _when_?”

Jade smiled and shrugged. “Since I said you were going to start teaching Miss Kanaya.”

“So if you’re going to make Kanaya a fake-alchemy magic weapon after just a few days, then I’m getting one too,” he snapped. “Let’s get going already.”

Rose stared at him with a frown. After a moment, she sighed. “If this rebounds on us, I’m going to do my best to redirect the blast to you. Put your hands on the lines.” When he had done as instructed, she put down her hands. “What I’m going to do is essentially open a pathway between the circle and the Green Sun. It’s your job to direct the energy into your sickles until they’re fully saturated. Once that happens, you yell to me and I’ll close the pathway. Got it?”

“Bring on your stupid colored death ball, Lalonde.”

Her frown deepened, but she nodded at the sickles. Once he had trained his gaze upon them, she closed her eyes. Electricity began to crackle along her arms. It danced down to her hands and shot along the outermost line of the circle. Karkat nearly jumped away when it struck his hands, but grit his teeth and bowed his head as the energy swept up his arms. It traveled back down again and surged into the circle until it hit the sickles. The moment the electricity touched the metal, Rose’s hands shifted.

All at once, lightning rose up from every line in the circle, arcing and crackling wickedly. Karkat made a sharp whine and his eyes widened briefly. He snarled and narrowed his eyes to glare at nothing but the sickles. A small tinny screech sounded through the crackle of energy. Just when the sound grew piercing, he howled, “Close it!”

The lightning broke apart, and the room lost the green light that had filled it so quickly they were dazzled for a moment. When sight returned, they looked at the sickles. They were no longer bright silver, instead made of metal so black it seemed to refuse to reflect light; their handles were capped with a tiny cross. Karkat bolted to his feet and snatched them immediately. When they were in his grasp, he paused and stared at them.

“Why did the word ‘Regisickle’ just pop into my head?” he asked.

“Because that’s the proper name for your catalyst,” Rose replied. “They always have names.”

He looked at her with disgust twisting his face. “They fucking name themselves?”

“It’s more like they just _have_ names,” Jade said. “Like John’s hammer is the Warhammer of Zillyhoo.”

Karkat’s expression twisted even further; he clapped his hands over his face. “Oh Gog, this was a terrible decision.”

“You can continue your bitching elsewhere, Vantas,” Rose said. “Whoever’s next, put your weapon in the circle.”

A moment went by before Tavros sucked in a deep breath and stepped forward with the lance that had been leaning against the wall beside him. He put it at the center and knelt down where Karkat had been before. When Rose looked at him, he nodded and set his eyes upon the lance. He did not jerk away when the electricity touched him, and he did not whine when lightning danced up from the circle. He grimaced and closed his eyes only when the screeching appeared, and he soon shouted, “Stop!”

His legs were rubbery when he stood up, but he went flat-footed to the lance that had been created. It was the same sleek black as Karkat’s sickles, save for the sharp angles of white that pointed up from the bottom of the lance toward the white ring at the middle. He lifted it; his eyes widened. “This thing is really light.” He blinked. “It’s called the Devil’s Smoke.” After a pause, he grinned and moved aside for Aradia.

She lay a coiled whip at the circle’s center before kneeling down. With a smile, she nodded and closed her eyes. She remained perfectly silent throughout, only flinching briefly when the electricity crawled along her arms. She waited through the screech for a few moments before calling out, “All right!” The whip was steaming when she picked it up and let it unwind. A green line zigzagged along the whip’s length, bright and vivid against the black.

“What’s it called?” Jade asked.

“The Bane of Mars,” she replied. She blinked, but her smile did not fade. “I like it.” She hurried to Kanaya, bustling her along as Tavros swooped in and brought her chainsaw to the circle. They arranged her and it properly before moving to stand with the others.

Karkat scowled at them. “I can’t fucking believe you two morons are older than me by more than a _sweep_.” He snarled loudly when Jade punched him on the arm again.

“Ready?” Rose asked.

“As much as a person can be,” Kanaya murmured. She sank to her knees and put her hands on the lines. She nodded; Rose closed her eyes. In silence, Kanaya watched the electricity surge down her arms once again. She waited for its approach, pressing her lips together harder and harder until it finally reached her. It was a sharp sting that struck her fingertips, but she bit down on the sound of pain that wanted to be let loose. She braced herself then, furrowing her brows as the sting traveled up her arms and skittered along her spine.

Taking a deep breath, Kanaya looked at her chainsaw. She turned the energy back down her hands and toward the chainsaw, forcing it carefully onward until it touched the machine. Rose’s hands shifted again, and the energy was instantly multiplied. Inside her head, Kanaya heard a faint whistle of noise that coincided with the brightest breaks of the electricity from the formula lines. The noise grew louder the more she focused the energy back toward the chainsaw, and she soon came to hear the same screech that had pervaded the transmutations before. She grit her teeth and waited; the chainsaw was not yet finished. It was only when her teeth rattled with the combined noise in and outside her head that she said, “Enough!”

When the light burned on the backs of her eyelids had faded, Kanaya looked at the center of the circle. The chainsaw that lay there was one she could call peculiar if she felt charitable. Then, arms still stinging and head now aching from the energy, she would have called it bizarre. She took to her feet and went to the chainsaw, lifting it off the floor. Briefly, she marveled at its greatly diminished weight. The saw’s teeth had been replaced by hooked horns like her own; the saw itself was a deep crimson. The engine casing had been colored deep purple, and the jade Virgo symbol etched there was all the brighter for it.

“This is the Demonbane Ragripper,” she said. She paused, putting her hand over her mouth for a moment. “This is a bit unexpected.”

“It’s a bit badass is what it is,” Karkat said.

“Thank you for that incisive commentary, Vantas,” Rose muttered. “It was vital that we learn what your opinion on Kanaya’s catalyst is.”

“Fuck you too, Lalonde.”

Kanaya laughed.

\-------

“Did your alchemy not work?”

“What? No, it was fine. There were no rebounds and all of you were able to perform alchemy with your catalysts.”

“I meant your arm, darling.”

Rose looked at her.

Kanaya pointed. “You keep scratching your arm.”

She looked down and saw her right hand scratching at the outside of her left arm. Frowning, she took her hand away and set both arms very firmly on the table. The dishes from their meal had been pushed to the far side of the table; she sat with her notebook before her while Kanaya sat leaning against her with a novel in her hands.

“It’s nothing,” she said. “It’s just a result of wearing a cast for a week. I just need to take a proper shower. I _want_ to, after all the work we did.” She sighed and leaned down to pull off her boots. “That Vantas’ little rebel base is equipped with showers and proper plumbing still astonishes me, though I do appreciate Jade’s recent addition of water heaters that never run out.” She took to her feet. “If you’ll excuse me.”

“May I join you?”

She stopped dead. “I beg your pardon?”

“You’re not the only one weary after performing all that alchemy. I see no reason not to join you for a proper ablution.”

Rose turned back to stare at her.

Kanaya smiled and stood, slipping off her shoes as she went. “It wouldn’t be something to be embarrassed about. You yourself said that your bouts of modesty don’t extend to when you see me naked to bathe.”

Her mouth opened, but no sound escaped her.

Her smile widened as she drew near; she reached out to cup Rose’s cheek in her hand. “Though if you were interested in fulfilling our promise from before at the same time, I certainly wouldn’t object.”

“Have you been planning this?”

“It seems prudent to recognize an opportunity when it presents itself and act upon it.”

After a moment, her lips curled in a small smile. “You are bold.”

“You are aware that you can be bold as well, aren’t you?”

“Forgive me if I’m still a little overwhelmed by the fact that another woman is sexually attracted to me.”

She chuckled. “It’s not difficult to be attracted to you, Rose darling.”

There were no words she could think of to give in response, and so she chose instead to rock up on her toes to kiss her. When Kanaya’s fingers curled in a belt loop of her jeans and tugged to one side suddenly, she inhaled sharply. Kanaya led her across the room by her jeans, and Rose sputtered as they went.

Of all the chambers and rooms in the caverns, the washrooms were the most refined. They were the only ones with electric lights, and small fans attached to vents in the ceiling. When Rose and Kanaya stepped inside, Kanaya was the one to close the door behind them and flip both switches. She smiled and combed Rose’s hair with her fingers. She asked, “You do remember the terms of our promise, don’t you?”

“More or less.”

With a chuckle, she reached down and put her fingers at the first button of her waistcoat. “It involved us taking off each other’s clothes.”

Rose opened her mouth very slightly and closed it again.

Kanaya undid the button and continued down. “Think of it as me helping you disrobe before bathing. And you’ll do the same for me shortly.” She reached the last button and returned up to start on her shirt.

Rose remained quiet, even as her belt was reached, undone, and set aside. Kanaya noticed and stopped.

A moment of silence and stillness passed before Kanaya let out another soft chuckle. She tapped a kiss to Rose’s forehead. “Darling, you don’t have to be overwhelmed. I’m not asking you to tantalize. All I want is to be able to bathe you properly.”

A smile finally returned to her, and a small blush came with it. “All right.”

“Now off with your jeans. I don’t want to have to pull them off of you when they’re wet, and I think you’d like to actually start bathing sooner than later.”

Rose laughed. She continued to chuckle as her waistcoat and shirt went the same way as her belt, and only calmed to a smile when Kanaya’s hands returned to the front of her jeans. She did not shy away from the button being undone or the zip being pulled down, and stepped carefully from the jeans when they had fallen to pool around her feet. She took in a deep breath and reached to the top of Kanaya’s blouse to begin undoing the buttons there.

As she worked, Kanaya gently stroked the back of her head. She hummed quietly when her blouse was opened; she shrugged it off and let it drop to the tiled floor. She did much the same with her long skirt when Rose had pulled down the zipper, swaying her hips slowly to send it along. When she reached behind Rose and undid the clasps of her bra, she gave her forehead another kiss. It was returned by a touch of Rose’s lips to her chest when she reached behind Kanaya in turn.

For a moment, there was no movement but the trembling of Rose’s hands on Kanaya’s sides; no sound but her shaking breath. The moment broke with her audible swallow and the travel of her hands down to the top of her panties. She pulled them down slowly and clung to Kanaya’s hips when they had fallen away. She flinched at the touch of Kanaya’s hands on her thighs, but did not jump away when she hooked her thumbs in her panties and drew them down. They returned to stillness for a brief time, but Kanaya had soon taken Rose by the hand and guided her toward the shower stall.

The water was hot from the moment Kanaya turned the handle, and she adjusted the temperature from scalding to hot in short order. Stepping beneath the spray, she turned back. Rose remained near the glass door where she had first stepped in, hips angled away and arms crossed tightly over her chest. There was a faint tremble in her shoulders; there was tightness in her face.

Smiling, Kanaya moved to wrap her arms around her from the side. She enfolded her gently, one arm beneath her breasts and the other draped low on her back. “What did I say about excessive modesty?”

Rose did not reply.

“In any case, I _have_ seen you naked before.”

“Not—entirely.”

“I saw the important details, darling, and I know they are all very lovely. You’re all right.” She stepped back, but took hold of her shoulders as she went to bring her along. She turned them about to place Rose beneath the water and combed her fingers through her hair to help wet it. “You’re beautiful, in fact.”

Her smile was anxious, but it was there. “So are you.”

She tilted Rose’s face up and leaned down to kiss her. “Thank you for the compliment. Now.” She turned to pluck the washcloth and slim bar of soap from the shelf on the wall. Smiling, she wetted the cloth and began to rub it against the soap. “Close your eyes.”

“Good lord, you really did mean it when you said you want to bathe me.”

“Why wouldn’t I have?”

A pause. “I have no real answer to that, so I guess my only recourse is to close my eyes.” She did so with hesitance; she flinched at the touch of the washcloth to her head. However, she remained still after that and drew in careful breaths through her nose as Kanaya washed her hair and face. She tilted her head back when her chin was tapped and let the lather rinse away. There was no stopping the shiver that was drawn up by Kanaya’s touch moving to her throat. She swallowed hard, and managed to smile at the quiet chuckle from Kanaya. When Kanaya’s hands moved lower and down to her breasts, however, she choked and tried to move away.

“I’m surprised that you’re still so anxious about this despite my having seen and touched most of your body,” Kanaya murmured.

“I was at least a little drunk before,” she mumbled in return.

“I hope you aren’t implying that you have to drink beforehand every time. It would ruin any hope of spontaneity, and I personally enjoy the idea of being able to come up behind you suddenly and catch you in my arms.”

She swallowed again, harder than before. “That—sounds like a good thing.” After a moment, she reached out with her right hand to curl her fingers against Kanaya’s stomach. She opened her eyes and looked at the angles of her fingers and color of her skin against the smooth ash-gray. “I’m sorry. Go ahead.”

Smiling again, she scrubbed her shoulders before moving to her arms. The left she took care with, rubbing tenderly at the faint red lines that the scratching had left behind. Each finger was washed; she ran the cloth over the creases of her palm. She did the same to her right arm, returning it to its place on her stomach when she was done. Slower than before, she moved her hand across Rose’s chest, following the curves of her breasts. Rose did not jump then, instead breathing shakily until the cloth was taken away.

Her breathing stopped when Kanaya stepped close enough that her breasts pressed against her chest. She stared at her throat and let out a brief sigh when Kanaya started to wash her back. It was half a step away from a massage, her cleaning was so thorough and slow. She pressed gently at all the knots of tension she could feel peppering Rose’s back, stroking the nape of her neck with her free hand. With a soft hum, she slid her hand further down. For the few moments before she moved again to wash the back of her thighs, she savored the whisper of her name Rose let out.

Kanaya kneeled down then, slowly and steadying herself with her hands on Rose’s hips as she went. She washed her legs, feeling the tremble of her muscles under her fingers. She kissed Rose’s stomach as she brought the washcloth between her legs. Rose let out a quiet whimper and curled her fingers in Kanaya’s hair. She canted her hips back at the press of Kanaya’s free hand to her stomach, letting the water run between her legs until Kanaya’s hand moved away. At the touch of fingers to the inside of her thighs, she bit her lip and took hold of Kanaya’s horns.

“Wait,” she said.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing—I just wanted to—” She faltered, one hand moving down from a horn to play with her wet hair. She took a deep breath and said, “I’d like to bathe you. That way—I’d have a better idea of troll physiology and how best to...make love to you.” A blush unconnected to the warmth of the water filled her cheeks, and she took her hands from Kanaya’s head to hide her face in them. “Oh, fuck me, I can’t believe I actually said something like that.”

“You remain charming to the last,” Kanaya chuckled. She touched Rose’s elbows, tilting her arms away gently. She laughed again when she saw the tiny, tentative smile that had been hidden under her hands. When Rose dropped her arms and the smile grew slightly, she pressed the washcloth into her hand. Arranging herself primly, she closed her eyes and folded her hands in her lap. She listened to the sound of the soap being retrieved and the washcloth rinsed out and refreshed. At the touch of Rose’s hands to her horns, she bowed her head dutifully.

It was innocuous enough, Rose simply washing her hair. At first, her fingers did not quest beyond their task. They kept bumping up against her horns, however, and she soon paused. She touched a fingertip to the point of her crooked horn and ran it down the horn’s length. It was not until she had reached the horn’s base that she received any reaction: a low thrum of sound that was nearly drowned out by the water noise. She paused. With the same careful motions Kanaya had used on her before, she washed her face and made her tilt her head forward into the spray.

Wetting her lips needlessly with her tongue, she moved to stand behind Kanaya. Though she meant to kneel then and there and set to washing her back, she faltered. She kneeled slowly, and reached out a hand even slower. On either side of Kanaya’s spine, squarely in the center of her shoulder blades, were two small, perfect circles of jade green, and slim lines of the same color extended from them down the length of her back.

“Kanaya?”

“Hmm?”

“Did something happen to you when you were young?”

“No. Why do you ask?”

“It’s just that there are—these marks on your back.” She hesitated, but set her fingers gently on one of the circles. Her brows rose slightly when she found the circle was made of slight, firm rise in her flesh; they rose further when she brushed her thumb along the line to find it, too, was raised; and they rose as high as they could go when she heard the thrumming sound once again and recognized it.

“Kanaya?”

“ _Hmm_?”

“Are...you purring?”

“I am,” she murmured. “Please be gentle with those.”

“What are they?”

“Trolls once grew wings when they advanced in age,” she said. “Those are vestigial remnants of that time.”

“And—they’re sensitive?”

She arched her back slightly, pushing back against Rose’s hand. The purring broke off into a groan when Rose put her palm flat over the wing-node. “Yes.”

“Oh.” She looked at the washcloth in her hand. “What would happen if I...erm, if I washed them?”

“Darling, while it would be an excellent way to leave me a quivering mess, I’m going to ask that you don’t do that right now.”

She jerked both hands away, heat filling her face. “Oh.”

Kanaya turned to look over her shoulder with a smile and a green flush in her cheeks. “I didn’t say you had to stop entirely. Here.” She stood up, stretching her hands over her head when she was on her feet. When she turned about to face Rose, her smile broadened at the sight of how red her face had become. She offered her hands and pulled Rose back onto her feet.

“Why—why did we get back up?” Rose asked.

“To get you away from those for the time being, for one.” Still holding Rose’s hands, she brought them to her stomach and held them there. “To help you refocus on your task, for another.”

She nodded once, breaking their gaze because her face ached with her blush. It was a poor decision, as her gaze fell to Kanaya’s breasts. The blush spread down into her throat, burning the skin there and making her stop breathing. She moved her eyes again, casting about for anything and coming to rest upon two marks, crescent shaped and dark green, on Kanaya’s sides beneath her ribs.

“What’re these?” she asked. She touched one of the marks, looking up anxiously when she felt Kanaya’s body move with her steady breathing.

“Scars from where our extra set of legs were during our wriggler phase. They’re not very sensitive.”

“Oh.”

She chuckled. “You keep saying that.”

“I’m terribly aware of that.”

“Is there a reason for that?”

A pause. She closed her eyes. “You remember that I said I’m still a little overwhelmed by the fact that a woman is sexually attracted to me, don’t you?”

“And you do recall that I told you that you don’t need to be overwhelmed?”

“I do.” Another pause; she lifted her head, opened her eyes, and gave her a small smile. “Now I’m sort of overwhelmed by how beautiful you are. And how it’s just me who gets to see you like this, so warm and caring and open to me.” A quiet laugh. “It boggles my mind, and I’m—I don’t quite know how to express that. My mouth keeps failing me.”

“It’s not failing you now.”

“I think I just caught a lucky streak for that.” With a nervous hand, she brought the washcloth up gently over the plane of her stomach and curved it around the swell of her breast. When her palm came to rest atop it, she could feel the hardened point of her nipple beneath the cloth. “And I admit I’m a little surprised that you have nipples when you’re not, strictly speaking, a mammal that breastfeeds their young.”

She let out a long, quiet sigh. “I believe it’s to help us feel a greater amount of pleasure and produce more genetic material because of that.”

“No offense, but that is a little unsexy.”

“Oh dear, have I ruined the moment?”

Rose’s smile was warm, genuine, and managed to broaden a bit more. “Honestly? All I really have to do is look at you again and it all comes back.”

Kanaya took the washcloth between thumb and forefinger, pulled it from Rose’s hand, and tossed it into a far corner of the shower. She caught Rose’s face in her hands and tilted it up to press a firm kiss to her mouth. She slid her fingers into Rose’s hair and held tight as she licked her lips. The weak gasp Rose let out was felt more than heard, and she gladly took the chance to slip her tongue past her lips and taste of her warm mouth.

Another gasp came from Rose when she felt Kanaya pushing at her hips, and then half lifting her off her feet to carry her to the nearest wall. She shuddered at the coolness of the tiles when her back was pressed against them, and again when Kanaya turned her about suddenly and her nipples brushed against the wall. She lay her arms flat against the wall, pushing back just enough that she did not touch the wall again.

“Kanaya?”

“Mm?”

“I—I want to touch you—I can’t do that like this—”

“In time, darling. For now, though...” She put her hands on Rose’s hips and pulled her back as she moved one leg closer, pressing her thigh between Rose’s legs. “For now, I want you too much.”

All Rose could think to do was try to bite down on the moan that sped up her throat at the way Kanaya cupped her breasts. Her attempt failed miserably, and she whimpered, “Kanaya,” when she took her nipples in her fingers and rolled them gently. At the rock of Kanaya’s leg between her own, she hissed, “Oh fuck _me_.”

“I already am, Rose darling.”

She coughed out a laugh, but whatever retort she had been thinking of vanished with Kanaya pressing kiss after kiss to her neck. Her eyes drifted closed; her breath left her in a shaking moan. A fraction of a second of hesitation gripped her, but the pleasure banished it and she began to rock back against Kanaya’s leg. Dimly, she noticed that Kanaya’s hands moved. Her left hand drifted from her breast, fingers trailing in a gentle scratch across her chest in order to hold its twin. Her right hand fell lower and lower, nails scratching just as gently down her stomach. Her fingers combed through the coarse, short hair between her legs and curled to cup her sex.

Kanaya slipped her fingers inside Rose easily. She took her time, pressing in one and drawing it back slowly a number of times before withdrawing completely. The sharp whine Rose let out was responded to with a soft hum, a suckle at the curve of her neck, and the press of two fingers into her. Whimpering, Rose put her forehead to the wall and rocked into Kanaya’s touch. Her feet slipped on the wet floor, but Kanaya kept her up and thrust into her hard in return. Rose cried out for her, voice breaking.

In a sudden rush, she pulled an arm away from the wall to reach down and push at Kanaya’s wrist. She swore quietly when Kanaya’s fingers slid out, but turned about to clutch at her hips. Leaning back against the wall, cursing again at the cold on her back, she pushed hard at one hip and turned her eyes to the floor. Not a heartbeat passed before Kanaya had brought them down, back beneath the water. She did not resist when Rose shifted to pin her.

Rose froze; her lips stopped just shy of Kanaya’s chest. She drew in quavering breaths, eyes wide. For a few long moments, she simply lay there with their legs tangled together and her head all but resting on Kanaya’s breast. She watched the water fall on Kanaya’s skin: tiny splashes on green-flushed gray. Slowly, she tipped her head down and drank the water that had gathered in the hollow of her throat. She kissed her neck gently before moving down. At the rise of her breast, she pressed another kiss. She stopped breathing as she moved down again and licked away the droplets that clung to her nipple.

“ _Rose_.”

A vague nod came before she wrapped her lips around the hard flesh and suckled. She let go of Kanaya’s wrists to sweep her hands down her sides. Her fingers passed over the ridge of the marks below her ribs, and she curled her hands back and around to find the bottom of the wing-lines. As she stroked at them, as she continued to suckle and lick, she pressed her knee against Kanaya’s crotch and rocked against her.

Freed as they were, Kanaya’s hands moved as well. One she put on Rose’s head; the other she dropped to dig her fingers into Rose’s rear. The high-pitched moan that Rose let out reverberated down through her breast, and she gave a weak cry at the sensation. She twisted and writhed to push her back into Rose’s hands, panting with it all. Gritting her teeth, she turned her hip and tipped Rose off of her. She settled them on their sides and pulled one of Rose’s hands away from her back. She brought it down between her legs and pressed hard at her knuckles.

“I need you in me, darling,” she groaned.

Rose’s eyes were wide then; her breath caught in her chest. She looked from Kanaya’s face to where her hand was tucked between her thighs and back again. The blush spread up to her ears before she nodded and slid two fingers inside. A sharp, tremulous moan burst from Kanaya’s mouth. Just as Rose began to move her hand, Kanaya brought her arm in and thrust her fingers inside Rose. Rose choked and hid her face in the crook of Kanaya’s neck.

A moment of stillness, and then they began to move in a broken rhythm. Matching thrust for thrust was a moment of serendipity they could not manage to keep for long. Kanaya panted, breath loud, and hissed, “ _Yes_ , darling, there— _there_ , oh faster, _please_.”

Rose whimpered despite biting hard on her lip, eyes shut tight and body shaking. She felt her mind growing hazy; she sucked in a breath and moved before the thought could run away. She brought her free hand up high on Kanaya’s back and rubbed hard at the wing-node there.

Her body seized; her spine trembled; her hips jerked. She moaned loudly, and her voice pitched higher and higher until she screamed, “ _Rose_!”

The rush of heat and wetness that poured over her fingers and down her hand made her gasp; the sound of Kanaya’s voice was nearly enough to break her; but it was the press of her hand down on the hard nub of flesh that finally pushed her over. Her breathing stopped once more as she came, and in the peak of it she sobbed into her chest, “Christ, _Kanaya_!”

Neither of them knew how long it took for the breaking to stop. All that mattered was that they came back tangled in each other. Rose opened her eyes slowly; her breath burned in her throat with how dry her mouth had become. She whispered an apology before sliding her fingers out of Kanaya. She brought her hand up, all the muscles in her arm trembling, and looked at it. Green was smeared on her fingers, had pooled in her palm so much that it ran unbroken when she turned her hand to pour it out. It was thick: the water did not rinse it off quickly. She watched it thin more and more with each droplet that fell; she licked her palm before it could wash away.

“Well?”

She looked up blearily.

Kanaya smiled at her. “How do I taste?”

She smiled back weakly before moving closer to cuddle. “Good.” She moaned when Kanaya slowly withdrew her fingers, and again when she heard the sound of Kanaya lapping at her hand.

“As do you, darling.”

Rose laughed, quiet and shaking. She burrowed her head into Kanaya’s chest to feel her laughter. Kanaya sighed, moving her arm to pillow her head and angling it to give Rose a place to rest her head as well. They lay there under the water, breathing deep until the air that had left them returned to their chests.

“We have to get up, you know,” Kanaya murmured.

“Don’t feel like it.”

“I know that you want to go to bed, darling, but we can’t fall asleep in the shower.”

“Yes we can. The hot water doesn’t run out. It’s nice.”

She laughed and kissed the top of her head. “Oh, Rose.”

“The only way you’re getting me out of here right now is if you carry me out. I have a feeling you’re not up to that.”

“I will be. I have no real desire to sleep in the shower, no matter how wonderful the water feels at the moment.” She pulled her closer and rubbed her back. “I want to fall asleep with you in my arms, warm and safe and wrapped up.”

Rose chuckled. “Okay, now you’re giving me a much better argument.”

“Then you won’t fight me when I turn off the water and carry you out of here?”

“Kanaya, why would I ever fight you about a chance to have you hold me?”

Her smile broadened. “Good point.”

For a time, they lounged there in the warmth. They breathed against each other, held each other close. In the end, it was Rose who moved first. Gently, she pushed Kanaya to lie on her back; slowly, she rose up on still shaking arms. She smiled at her, eyes warm and face soft.

“I really, truly love you, Kanaya,” she said.

“And I love you, Rose,” she replied. She gladly accepted the kiss Rose gave her, and returned it with two of her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'mma leave this one right here, too.


	12. The Highblood Hunters

_Sis_

 _I’m in the city._

 _I got a troll buddy all sweet on the rube’s rebellion._

 _Let’s meet up at the Rustblood’s Blade. My buddy says the rube’ll know where it is._

 _—Strider_

Karkat stood at the head of the table, hands planted on either side of the journal and eyes fixed on the scrawled handwriting. The others stood around the table and watched his face. It slowly twisted from a frown to a scowl, and he let out a long sigh. He grumbled, “I don’t fucking like this.”

“And what new gripe have you added to your list of grudges against me and my brother?” Rose asked.

He slammed the journal closed and shoved it across the length of the table so hard she had to catch it before it fell to the floor. “It’s been three weeks since Zahhak demolished a chuck of the city. That’s more than enough time for news about you assholes to get around. I _know_ it’s gotten around. Give her the tiniest reason, and that legislacerator bitch is going to be prowling the streets looking for you. I’ve been _trying_ to get you out of here to keep my people safe.”

“At the price of taking Kanaya away from me when you force me out of the city, I’m sure,” Rose said.

His sneer grew wider. “From what I’ve seen of your insane witch-bitchiness, she’s the only one who can make you tolerable.”

Kanaya frowned. “Karkat, what did I tell you about calling my matesprit a ‘witch-bitch’?”

He sighed. “ _Anyway_. I don’t know if she told you or not, but I’ve already gotten a big fucking lecture on how she’s going with you whenever you leave, and I don’t really want to have _another_ fight with her over your stupid ass.”

For a moment, an awkward silence sat in the room. It was John who broke it, leaning in to set his hands on the table. He said, “We have to go meet him.”

“No, we don’t,” Karkat said. “We need to find a direction for you to go so you can get out of my city. Sollux is working on it—”

“But he hasn’t found anything,” Vriska said. “Who are you to say we shouldn’t go find this guy? He might actually be useful to us, unlike Captor.”

“Vriska, what have I said about being nice?” John asked.

She batted her eyes at him and smiled. “That it didn’t apply to mutant lowbloods?”

Karkat’s face twisted in fury and disgust. “Jegus _fuck_ , get me something to throw up in. Then I can throw it at you for making me barf in the first place.”

Kanaya put a hand on his head and patted gently. She pulled her hand back when he swiped at her arm. “I vote for meeting with him.”

“I don’t know if anyone told you, Kanaya, but I don’t run a democratic rebellion. _I_ run this shitstorm, and I already said I don’t like this. We’re not going.”

“Think of it this way,” Rose said. “There is a greater possibility that Dave has more news about Noir than Captor. If we go to see him, then we’ll get the information faster and we can leave you to your rebellion sooner.” She smirked. “And if it is a trap of some kind, then you stand a chance of being able to kill more of your enemies and show off the fact that lowbloods are in possession of alchemy, whereas highbloods are not. I don’t see how this has a major downside.”

He stared at her. After a moment, he growled, “You and your fucking logic.”

Her smirk grew broader. “Are you admitting defeat?”

“I don’t admit defeat—I deign to acknowledge when a shitty plan has a tiny fragment of good in it.”

“I’ll take what I can get from you.” She chuckled when Kanaya gently hit her shoulder.

\-------

The Rustblood’s Blade was a tavern closer to the port than Kanaya would have expected from the moniker. Karkat led the way, hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched. Though he did not seem to make an impressive figure, trolls moved out of the way as he came near. Their group traveled in broken clusters, as per Karkat’s orders: Karkat moved alone to lead; Rose and Kanaya walked on the other side of the street some distance back; and John and Vriska back further still. Jade, Aradia, and Tavros were already stationed nearby on street corners and rooftops within shouting distance. Rose held Kanaya’s hand, squeezing tight when the throng bumped against them.

When they came close, when she could see the building and hear its noise, Kanaya started. She waited another moment, and then leaned down slightly to murmur, “Rose?”

“What?”

“I think I see Maplehoof.”

“ _What_?”

“There’s a white hoofbeast tied near the doors.” She squinted a moment before her eyes widened and her brows rose. “That _is_ Maplehoof. I recognize her saddle.”

For a moment, Rose looked as though she would bolt ahead. She drew a deep breath and held tighter to Kanaya’s hand. They walked slower after Karkat had gone inside, and stopped entirely before the building. Rose went to the horse, stepping close to her head. She turned to look at her and nickered immediately. Maplehoof let Rose put her head against her neck, chuffing air on her shoulder.

“Once again, I find myself thanking a God I don’t believe in that you are a terrible coward,” Rose sighed.

“How is she here?” Kanaya asked.

“I can only hope Dave found her outside the city when he arrived and that someone hasn’t tried to claim her.”

“If he’s here, that may be the case.” She took Rose’s hand again, moving to lead her inside. “For now, let’s try to avoid attention.”

The tavern was as raucous as Kanaya expected, but she did not expect the arms that clamped around her free one the moment she was through the door. She turned to find a troll woman standing there, beaming up at her. She was already smaller, shorter even than Jade, and the long baggy coat did nothing to improve that appearance. Her short hair was unkempt, tangled in places and standing up on end in others. Her eyes were a dark green, and her thick, conical horns grew nearly vertically. She grinned; her expression was catlike with glee.

“Come here!” she said. With a great tug, she nearly pulled Kanaya off her feet and started to drag her along. She let go of Rose’s hand, but shook her head when Rose spun about. She gestured for Rose to follow, and she did so with her eyes narrow. They weaved through the crowd and came to a booth tucked away in a corner. Karkat flicked his hand in a wave from where he sat at the booth’s left edge; he stood to let them slide in past him. As they sat down, a cloaked figure they had not seen leaned forward. He pulled back his hood just enough to display his sunglasses.

“Where did you find Maplehoof?” Rose asked.

“Nice to see you, too, sis,” Dave replied.

“You know I wasn’t going to start off with that,” Rose said. “Don’t act offended. Where did you find her? I thought she would have been killed in all the chaos.”

“The shit you got into with hunters, right?” He crossed his arms on the table and shifted further forward. “I’d sock you for gettin’ into that if you weren’t my little sister.”

“That’s never stopped you before.”

He frowned and opened his mouth, but the troll woman from before pranced up to the table with John and Vriska behind her. She grinned toothily and said, “I brought your other friends, Karkitty!”

A great jerk ran the length of Karkat’s body, and he turned to stare at the woman. As his eyes narrowed, he snarled, “What the fuck did you just call me?” Before she could answer, he waved a hand to dismiss her. “No, I really don’t care what or why. If you call me that again, I’m going to eviscerate you.” He looked up at Vriska and John and nodded to the other side of the booth. When they all had settled, he leaned in to stare at Dave. “Okay, asshole. Tell me how to get rid of you and all your asshole friends.”

“ _Karkat_ ,” Kanaya murmured.

John cut in: “How long have you been in the city, buddy? Did you just get here? Where’ve you been?”

“Where did you find Maplehoof?” Rose asked.

John turned to look at her and back again, eyes wide and smile massive. “Oh wow—you found her? That’s great! Rosie was so worried! Where’d you find her?”

“I gave her to him!” the troll said. Her grin redoubled in strength as she sat herself down next to Karkat. “He saw her with me and asked why I had her!”

“And who are you to have my horse?” Rose asked.

“I’m Nepeta Leijon!” she said. “Nice to meet you!”

“I was looking for an answer as to why you had my horse in the first place, not for an introduction.”

“Oh!” She looked at Dave a moment with her grin weakening. “Um...”

“I was headin’ this way after I got your letter, Egbert. We ran into each other a few days ago and she had the horse. We talked, and she said she might know to get me in touch with you palookas, since everyone dusted after all that shit happened. It’s been a fuckin’ pain tryin’ to convince her to show me this place.”

“Well, I didn’t want to get anyone in a lot of trouble!” Nepeta said. “And you didn’t have a very good plan for the longest time! I still don’t—”

“Yeah, yeah, dames and their hesitations,” Dave said. “I get it. Now I got my crew back, so it don’t matter. All we gotta do is dust outta here, find Jade, and we can all go hunt Noir.”

“Jade is with us,” John said. He grinned, jabbing his thumb at Karkat. “She’s in on Karkat’s rebellion! She’s helping us teach him and some other trolls alchemy!”

Dave lifted a brow. “Trolls can learn it?”

“Yeah!” John said with a laugh. “You remember Aradia and Tavros, right? She started teaching them a little while after you, me, and Rosie left their place. And we just made them some catalysts, too! Now they’re able to use alchemy just like us!”

“In theory,” Rose said. “They’ve all done fine practicing in a controlled environment—but that's beside the point. Strider, have you heard anything new about Noir or not?”

“What’s supposed to be new?”

“The last real information anyone has involves him destroying the town in the desert. Aside from that, there may or may not have been some new series of deaths to the northwest of here, but that’s not substantiated.”

A pause. “Then no,” Dave grumbled. “Keep not gettin’ any leads.”

Karkat threw his hands into the air. “What a fucking surprise! The humans don’t know anything!”

“Clam up about the humans thing, rag-a-muffin,” Dave snapped. “The last thing we need is for someone to get ideas about us while we’re sittin’ here.”

He sneered and drew a sickle out of nothingness. “Let them fucking try.”

“That’s a fancy new trick you’ve learned, Karkles!”

They turned as one, finding the voice’s owner in the form of a small troll woman made of sharp angles and a shark’s grin. She leaned on her dragon-headed cane, waggling her eyebrows. “Long time no see, Vantas.”

For a moment, Karkat was still. He slowly turned away from the woman to stare, wide eyed and slack jawed, at Dave. “This has all been your fault.” His brows dropped; his lips parted in a sneer. “ _You’re_ the one who sold them out before. You got the letter from Egbert, and then you told her everything.”

“Excellently deduced, Karkles!” the woman cackled.

Dave’s expression twisted to match Karkat’s. “Pyrope, you’re not tellin’ ‘em the fuckin’ deal.”

“You made a _deal_ with her?” Vriska snapped.

Terezi laughed again. “He made a fantastic deal, and I’m following through on it.” Her grin broadened. “You’re coming with me, Lalonde.”

Karkat stabbed his sickles into the table and the wall of the booth, and both exploded outward. Nepeta leaped forward to tackle Terezi, shielding her from the wood shards from the table that flew at her. With a bark of “You two handle this shit!” Karkat grabbed Rose’s wrist. As he pulled, Kanaya pushed her, and they bolted through the hole in the booth into the roaring crowd. They escaped the building and fled with Karkat shouting down everyone who stood in their way. He did not let them slow or stop until they had followed him through a twisting path of streets and alleys, and he made them halt by grabbing Rose’s wrist once more and yanking her into a narrow alley. He shoved her against a wall, holding her there even when Kanaya tried to pull him away.

“What did—I tell you about—manhandling me, Vantas?” Rose panted.

“Some shitty death threat,” he replied. “Don’t give a fuck. You’re getting out of the city right now.”

“Karkat, we can’t possibly leave now,” Kanaya said. She frowned and finally pulled him off of Rose. “We don’t know where to go.”

“And I want my horse back.”

“Fuck your hoofbeast!” he shouted. “Do you understand what just happened? That fucker double-crossed you—and to _Pyrope_! She called you by name, which means your name is in all the record books. Every single highblood knows who you are, and I am Gog damn certain they know _you’re_ the one who can make catalysts! You need to go, and _now_!”

“But—”

“Jegus _fuck_ , I will figure out a way to get your stupid hoofbeast back! Just _go_ , fuckass!”

Rose and Kanaya both opened their mouths to protest.

Above them, a horn honked.

They looked up. The lowest rooftop was three storeys up, and a troll crouched on its ledge. His hair was wild and tangled, and his horns, long and curving back and forth, were nearly lost in it. His face was painted: a greasy white skull with fangs falling long over his chin leered at them while he smiled. In one hand was a horn; the other carried a juggling club stained with many colors.

“Hey there, brother and sisters,” he called down. “Which one of you motherfuckers is Rose Lalonde?” He honked the horn, and his voice rose to a roar when he said, “’Cause I heard you were motherfuckin’ responsible for the demon wasting all my best lowblood paints!”

“Oh fuck,” Karkat whispered. He grabbed both women by their elbows and pulled hard. They did not move. They stared up at the man, eyes wide and faces pale. Rose began to tremble enough for Karkat to feel it in his hand. Swearing, he let go of them to draw his sickles. He swung the blades, slinging lightning up at the man. He leaped away in time to dodge the explosion of the stone beneath him, and Karkat pulled Rose and Kanaya back into running. They followed him even more implicitly than before, all along his sprinted courses and harried corners.

When he let them stop, Rose slumped against a wall, folded in on herself, and sank to the ground. She sat with her legs drawn up to her chest and trembled so violently her shaking was visible.

“Rose?” Kanaya asked. She swallowed hard to quiet the quaver in her voice. “Rose, what’s wrong?”

Rose shook her head and hid her face in her knees.

Slowly, Karkat crouched down. He waved Kanaya back when she came near, shaking his head once. After a moment, he reached out to lay his hand on Rose’s head. A sharp keen of panic left her throat; she swung at his face. He caught both of her hands as they came, and shifted them to hold both carefully in one of his. When his hand was freed, he began to pat her head gently.

“Shush,” he murmured. “Shh...calm your ass down. I know he’s a scary motherfucker, I know. Shush.”

Her trembling began to slow.

“You’re fine, you blubbering pansy,” he said. He patted her face, tapping her forehead and cheeks with touches of his fingertips and palm. “Shush. It’s okay.” After some time, he paused and leaned down further to look at her closely. “You back from freak-out land, Lalonde?”

She stared at him.

He patted her on the head.

She swallowed hard and nodded. She let him heave her back to her feet and continued to stare. “What just happened?”

“I calmed your ass down,” Karkat said. “You could be a little—”

“No, I am grateful,” Rose said. “Thank you for the shoosh-pap routine, truly. However, I’m not prone to panic attacks, nor have I ever experienced one that severe, and I would sincerely like to know why I was on the verge of passing out from terror.”

“That was Gamzee Makara,” Karkat said. “Grand Highblood, subjugglator, completely shithive maggots.” At her blank stare, he sighed. “Right, alien. Highbloods are scary. Like, they will psychically make you lose your shit. Lowbloods are scared easiest, so it makes sense that someone right off the ‘spectrum would flip out that badly. Kanaya got over it pretty quick, so that’s good.”

“And why weren’t _you_ affected?” Rose asked. “You’re not on the hemospectrum, either.”

“I’m used to being around highblood freak jobs. He just doesn’t scare me like that anymore.” He grimaced, looking up briefly. “But that doesn’t change anything. You need to get out of the city.”

“Karkat, there’s a legislacerator _and_ a subjugglator hunting for her now!” Kanaya said. “We can’t leave! We need your help!”

“What do you expect me to do?”

“I don’t— _anything_! Hide us, help us fight—you could—you could talk to Peixes, see if she can help us get away from highbloods.”

His lips peeled back to bare all his fangs in the instant before he began to shout. “I am never begging her for anything! If the highbloods stop following you, it sure as fuck won’t be because I bowed my head to her! The Sufferer _died_ before bowing his head to Her Imperious Condescension, and I’m not going to give in to Feferi fucking Peixes!”

“Who the fuck are you to say her name?”

They spun about. At the entrance of the alley stood a man in a flowing purple cape. A rifle was strapped to his back, and the rings on his fingers spoke as much to his highblood status as did the gills and fins on his neck. His lightning crooked horns extended from his coiffed hair, standing astride a streak of dyed magenta at the top of his forehead. He glared at them from behind square glasses for a moment before his eyes widened.

“The alchemist,” he hissed.

“ _You_!” Kanaya shouted. She pulled her chainsaw out of nothingness, revving it the instant it appeared in her hands. The man jerked back at the sight of lightning growing around the saw, and his shock was so great that he didn’t react quickly enough to dodge the pillars of stone created when Kanaya slashed the ground. They smashed into his chest, flinging him back into the street to crash against the trolls there. He coughed weakly as he rolled onto his hands and knees. His recovery was quick enough that he turned immediately at the sound of the chainsaw revving once more, and he dodged the next series of pillars while drawing his rifle.

As the man fired, Rose thrust out the Thorns. The green lightning struck the blue energy bolt, and an explosion made the air rattle and the pavement crack. Trolls began to pelt away with screaming, shouting, and cursing. The man stared at Rose with narrow eyes, and she returned his stare with a scowl. His focus was not afforded to her completely, and his reaction time was quick enough that he dived away from the stone cage Karkat tried to summon around him. He aimed at Rose once more and fired, but Kanaya swept in.

She cut the bolt in half, but it was a mistake. The explosion rocked her violently, throwing her hard to the ground. Her head hit the pavement; a smear of her blood showed when her head lolled to one side. The chainsaw vanished. Karkat ran to her and rolled her over, but Rose had already started her charge on the man. She leaped bodily at him, Thorns gripped in her hands as though they were daggers. He brought his leg up and kicked her in the center of her chest, and she hit the ground wheezing.

When he drew close, she managed to bring one arm up to fling lightning at him. He dodged only enough to escape the shot physically; his cape caught fire. Snarling, he pulled it from his shoulders one handed and cast it aside. He barely managed to twist his head away in time to avoid the shot aimed at his face; his broken glasses flew away spinning. Snarling even louder than before, he reached out for her neck. Rose scrambled back to her feet before he could touch her, and in her rising she cast lightning at his feet. The pavement snapped up and over his legs, stopping him where he stood, and she turned to run back to Karkat and Kanaya.

Karkat had heaved Kanaya up onto his back, pulling her arms around his neck to hold her there. He turned to look at Rose upon hearing her running footsteps. He meant to speak to her, to bark orders or shout an assurance.

A horn honked in front of them.

He spun back around as Rose skid to a stop. Gamzee stood in the alleyway, smiling wide to show all his fangs. He walked forward pace by pace, honking the horn with each step. Karkat retreated as he advanced, scowling as widely as the smile. He moved toward Rose, but when he looked to her with an order on his tongue, she was standing frozen with her eyes wide with panic. She was too frightened to let out more than a weak gasp when Gamzee’s arm snapped out and caught her by the throat.

“Hey there, sister,” Gamzee said. He lifted her from her feet, smile broadening when she did not struggle. He brought her close and roared in her face, “Found you!”

Her eyes rolled back in her head and she was gone.

\-------

Kanaya woke with a vicious headache and a hand gently stroking her hair. She opened her eyes slowly, but did not find Rose above her. A woman with goggles on her face, a jeweled circlet on her brow, gills on her neck, and Tyrian purple in her eyes was there instead. She smiled at Kanaya and said, “Hello.”

She bolted upright, moving away as quickly as she could. She soon discovered the wall behind her and pressed hard against it. The woman looked at her with mild surprise, hand still outstretched.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” she murmured.

“You’re Feferi Peixes,” Kanaya said.

Her face broke in a massive smile and she clapped her hands together once before putting them beneath her chin. “You know me?”

“My moirail has often spoken of you.”

“Are you Karkat’s moirail?” Feferi asked. “Can you tell him to calm down a little?”

“Where is he?” She looked about properly. They sat in a room of opulence. The colors of the walls, the rug on the floor, and even Feferi’s dress her brighter than most Kanaya had seen before. She looked down to see was occupying a well-kept couch, and Feferi was perched an intricately carved chair. “Where are _we_?”

“A hiveblock I own on land. It’s not too far from the port.”

“How did we get here?”

“Oh, my moirail brought you here!”

“Your— _who_?”

“Eridan Ampora.”

Her body tensed. “The man who has assaulted us _twice_ in the hopes of capturing an alchemist?”

Feferi sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. “I’m sorry. I didn’t tell him to attack you. That’s just how he does everything.”

“But you told him to come after us?”

“I told him to find an alchemist,” she said. “I wanted to talk to one.”

“About what?”

“What has Karkat been saying about me?”

Silence.

“It’s fine if it’s rude. I’m not going to hurt you for it.”

“He refuses to talk at length about you. I’ve heard other says that you want to end the slave trade. I’ve also heard that you want to use alchemy to power warships instead of psionic trolls.”

She smiled. “That’s all correct.”

“So you did want to talk to an alchemist to gain power.”

“I’m not going to take my place as Empress unless I have power. Her Imperious Condescension won’t abdicate peacefully, even if she’s light-years away. So.” She sat forward, putting her hands on her knees. “I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally talk to an alchemist. Cod, this is wonderful!”

“’Cod’?”

She giggled. “Sorry. Bad habits from when I was a child.”

Kanaya hesitated. “I can’t tell you much, if anything.”

“Why not? Eridan said you used alchemy when he found you.”

“I’ve only just started learning.”

“From who?”

“A human.” At Feferi’s blank looked, she said, “An alien—the brigandrifts everyone called freaks. They were the ones who created the monster that’s been slaughtering trolls and lusii.”

She put a hand on her chin and frowned in thought. “Hmm. Sollux did say that they were called humans—he just didn’t say they were aliens. I guess he wouldn’t have thought they were, since we haven’t had any landings, registered or not.”

“They didn’t arrive by space travel. They were cast here after a failed transmutation.”

“By who?”

“Ro—they said it was done by the Elder Gods.”

Feferi hummed again. “That does sound like something they might do.”

“Wha—you know of the Gods?”

“Of course I do. I communicate with them in my dreams.”

Kanaya’s chest grew tight as her breathing stuttered to a halt. “Are—you one of their speakers?”

She laughed. “I’m sure they’d like me to be one, since the Condesce is and that’s gotten them a lot of unhappy souls!”

“You aren’t?”

“Not at all,” Feferi said. “No one _has_ to be a speaker for them.”

“What if you already are?”

“How good are you at dreaming?”

Kanaya stared at her. “I beg your pardon?”

“How good are you at dreaming? How often do you have good dreams instead of night horrors?”

“The good dreams outweigh the night horrors.”

“Excellent! What do you dream about?”

“The happy times in my life.”

“Then you’re already in the dream bubbles!”

She blinked. She remained silent because her question was obvious in her face.

“Your soul is what dreams,” Feferi said. “When you dream, you can always go back to your memories and relive your life. You don’t have to be a speaker for the Elder Gods—you don’t really even have to have night horrors. And if you can find them, you can dream with other souls. Even dead ones.”

Kanaya hesitated. “Then...Rose doesn’t have to suffer the touch of the Elder Gods?”

Feferi’s smile vanished immediately and was replaced with a sympathetic face. “Is someone you know a speaker?”

“She says they sing to her in her night horrors.”

She nodded with grimness turning her lips down. “If she’s not already, then they want her to be one.” A pause. “Is she the one who’s teaching you alchemy?”

“Yes. She’s the one who created the formula that opens a pathway to the Elder Gods—the one that failed and made the Gods cast them here.”

She nodded again, mouth still grim and eyes growing pensive.

“Is—there a way to bring her back from being their speaker?”

“The best way to do it is find her soul and bring it into a dream bubble. The Gods can’t break into them, and you can’t hear them singing there.”

“But how do I find her soul?”

The grimness left her face for a soft smile. “Tell her before you go to sleep next time, and then the two of you can look for each other.”

The door shattered in a flash of green lightning. They turned about to see Karkat stomp into the room, splattered in blood of all shades and with his own bright red blood dripping from wounds on his arms and hands. His fangs were bared; his jaw was clenched. He panted through his teeth, and began to growl aloud when he saw Feferi.

She stood smoothly from the chair, spreading her arms as though she would embrace him if he drew close. “Karkat Vantas.”

“Peixes,” he snarled.

“I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time.”

“I don’t give a shit. Give me them back and let us go.”

“You’re free to go. All I want to do is talk.”

“I’m not going to listen to _you_ —”

“I am sorry for what happened to your ancestor. I am sorry for all of that.”

His eyes widened with fury, brows dropping low. “Don’t act like you know who I am!”

“You are Karkat Vantas, leader of the most successful lowblood rebellion since that of your ancestor. You are the descendant of the Signless Sufferer, and you carry his mutant red blood in your veins.”

“Don’t fucking talk about him!”

“I want you to be the first general in my army when I become Empress, Karkat.”

“Are you trying to fucking _bribe_ me, Peixes?”

“Absolutely. If I can convince you to trust me even a little and help me overthrow the Condesce, then I’m willing to give you anything you want.”

“Yeah right,” he snapped. “The minute you’ve gotten Lalonde to make you some alchemy bullshit to power your ships, you’ll turn right back around and fire all that lightning at us. I’m not trusting you, and I’m not giving you alchemy.”

She began to walk toward him.

He lifted a sickle and shouted, “You can back right the fuck off!”

She lifted one hand.

“Back _off_ , Peixes!”

She continued to walk, and as she did she brought her arm to her mouth and slit her wrist with a fang.

He stared.

She lowered her arm to let the blood run into her palm. When she brought her arm back up, she held her hand out to him.

He stared, and his mouth opened without a sound.

“I have never made a blood oath with anyone,” Feferi said. “You have it on my blood that I want you as my general, and you have it on my blood that I will never turn my weapons on lowbloods unless they become _our_ enemies. I want your help in overthrowing the cruelty of Her Imperious Condescension, Karkat. You and your allies are the only way I can do that—and you need me and my supporters to make sure your rebellion sticks.”

He was silent.

She smiled. She bowed to him. “Please, Karkat.”

He stared. He looked past her, eyes falling on Kanaya. After a long moment, Kanaya nodded. He snarled, but the noise tapered off into a snort of frustration. He dropped one sickle back into nothingness and brought his arm up. He cut his wrist and reached out to clasp Feferi’s arm.

“Fine,” he said. “I’ll give you a fucking chance. If you piss me off in any single way, though, I’m cutting off your hands and throwing you to the lowbloods.”

She giggled. “Deal.”

“Now give me back Lalonde.”

Confusion filled her face. “Lalonde?”

“Rose Lalonde,” he said. “The biggest freak brigandrift of them all—she’s the one who you need for alchemy, and I don’t want you to have her until we discuss all the ways you need to not fuck me over. Where is she?”

“Eridan only brought the two of you here. I only wanted an alchemist and Karkat, and since your moirail is an alchemist—”

Kanaya’s spine went cold. She stood from the couch and strode over swiftly. “What did he do with Rose?”

“He said the subjugglator Makara was looking for her.” Feferi paused, looking at the both of them as understanding came to her and her voice began to fade. “He let him take her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of this chapter, I am going to put my other concurrent stories on hold in order to finish Frontierstuck.
> 
> The reasons why will become clear.


	13. Death

A claw slowly sliced a long line across her cheek, and Rose jerked awake with the sting of it. She could not twist away; she was hanging suspended from her wrists, her back against a wall. She looked up into darkness that was complete but for the small lantern hanging above in the center of the room. The skull-painted face of Gamzee Makara was inches before her own, and she stopped breathing the moment she saw his smile.

He cut a line on her other cheek. “Hey there, sister,” he murmured. “Welcome back to the motherfuckin’ waking world. You get a good nap?”

She was silent, panic gripping her throat. She heard noise inside her head: screaming and howling and laughter mixed up against the screech of alchemic lightning. Every nerve came to edge and toppled straight over the side.

“I asked you a question, you little bitch!” he howled. “Did you have a good nap?”

She stared at him with wide eyes. Her heart rattled around inside her chest. Her knees threatened to buckle. Her palms grew slick with sweat.

He bent down until their faces were level. He put his hand gently on her head. His voice pitched soft when he said, “Yeah, you probably did. You got some freak mutant blood in you, sister. You know that?” He ruffled her hair. His hand moved faster; he pressed harder. He gripped her hair and wrenched her head back to strike the wall.

“You don’t even have any motherfuckin’ horns, sister!” he roared. “What blasphemy are you trying to sell on my planet? Are you an enemy of the mirthful messiahs?”

Her tongue was thick in her mouth; she felt as though she would vomit as soon as speak, but she could not keep from stammering, “I don’t—don’t kn-know who—”

He let go of her hair and smoothed it down. He spoke quietly: “You made the demon, sister. You’re the reason my paints are getting wasted. I can’t _paint_ , sister. Do you know how fuckin’ _mad_ that makes me?”

She tried to push back and away from him; her heels slipped on the smooth stone of the floor over and over. She tried to hide behind her arms, barely feeling the pain of the shackles around her wrists. His eyes were wide, the deep indigo shade turned black amidst the brightness of the yellow around the pupils. They stared into hers, and her heart beat even faster. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m—”

“ _Really_ fuckin’ mad!” he shrieked.

“I’m sorry! I wasn’t trying to create him! _I’m sorry_!”

Gamzee smiled at her; he laughed as she began to hyperventilate. He did not stop chuckling even when a great banging sounded behind him. Humming tunelessly, he turned and strode away. He opened the door to the room.

“Hey there, my motherfuckin’ justice sister,” he said. “What’s up?”

“I’ve come for the prisoner.”

He laughed wildly, and there was cheer in his voice when he shouted, “Aw man, I was just gettin’ into it! You should see how good she scares!”

A chuckle. “Oh, I can smell it perfectly well. The room is ripe with it. You’ve done an excellent job. However, you’re not very good at questioning prisoners, and that’s where I come in. I’ll need some time alone with her.”

“What’re you gonna do to her?” he asked.

A cackle. “Come now, Gamzee! You know _exactly_ what I do to my prisoners!”

He began to laugh even louder than before. Rose let her head fall forward at the sound of returning footsteps; she could not look at him again. When a hand came under her chin, she barely managed to keep from screaming. She did not lift her head, no matter how hard the hand pushed. There was no stopping the gasp of pain or the movement of her head when the hand slipped into her hair and tugged back. She looked into Terezi Pyrope’s face, saw her sawteeth smile, and went completely limp. Terezi chuckled, releasing her hair to let her slump and hang from the shackles.

“Well, well, well,” Terezi said. “I told you that you were coming with me. One way or another, I’m always right.” She lifted a hand to wave over her shoulder. “I’ll take it from here, Gamzee. Go paint or honk your horn or something.”

“You got it,” he said. “Bring your pretty mirthful justice on her freak head, sister.” He closed the door behind him with a bang.

“So,” Terezi murmured. “The great Rose Lalonde. Best alchemist on all of Alternia. Perhaps the universe, unless there’s some planet out there Her Imperious Condescension has yet to decimate with alchemists on it. The only person with the knowledge of how to create alchemic catalysts, which would be capable of tapping into a source of perpetual energy. Also the only person with the knowledge of a formula intended to retrieve a soul, but actually opens a path between the alchemist and some very cruel Elder Gods. And finally, one of the people responsible for the creation of the demon known as Jack Noir. Is this information correct?”

She could not speak, and so she nodded weakly.

Terezi grinned, showing even more of her fangs. “Would you like to know how I came to have all of this information?”

She remained still and silent.

“Your brother told me everything,” she said. “Every last word of it. He confessed readily.” Her smile could not grow any wider, and so she let out a soft chuckle. She leaned close enough that Rose could feel her breath on her cut cheeks. “Would you like to know something else?”

She let out a tiny whimper.

“I’m going to let you break out of here.” Terezi snickered, straightened up, and patted Rose on the head. She turned on her heels and walked across the room. She opened the door and slipped outside. When she closed and locked it, the clank of the lock was deafening.

Rose’s heart continued to pound painfully in her chest. She dangled there, knees too weak to stand. The freeze of the fear left her blank and perfectly numb: her mind did not work. She couldn’t think to look away from where Terezi’s face had been; her head fell forward naturally with the weakness of her muscles. There was no paying attention to how much time passed after Terezi’s leaving. It seemed forever, but for all she knew naught but an instant passed.

She dimly felt her fingers turn and catch a Thorn in them. Her hand flicked it, and the chains and shackles vanished with a flash of green lightning. She collapsed, but her body righted itself enough to turn the Thorn on the door. The lightning blasted a hole clean through the space where wall and lock connected, and the door creaked as it swayed on its hinges.

A small troll in a large coat pushed the door open and bounded inside. The troll took long enough in heaving Rose off the ground for her to recognize the catlike face of Nepeta Leijon. Though her legs moved as if to stand her up on her own, Nepeta simply bent over and pulled Rose across her back. She brought Rose’s arms around her neck, shifted her to settle with her knees against her sides, and set out at a run.

Nepeta carried her through empty hallways without hesitation and in complete silence. She turned corners with the confidence of a plan, and leaped down stairwells gracefully. Rose was unable to react to any of it. Even when Nepeta rounded yet another corner and John stood at the end of the hallway, she could do little more than blink. On their appearance, John turned about, summoned his hammer, and slammed it against the wall. It exploded outward to reveal the near-dawn sky, stained the faintest shade of pink. Nepeta came to a halt beside John, and they looked out and down.

A gunshot rang out, and the stone of the building swelled and flowed in the same direction as their gaze. They began to run down the bridge that was created, and Rose looked over Nepeta’s shoulder. Far below them was a great river separating the building they ran from and the sprawl of the city beyond. When she looked up, she could see the black ocean as a hazy smear in the distance. She grew dizzy with focusing on it, and her eyes slid down to where they were running. The bridge extended to a building just on the other side of the river, standing tall enough over the massive wall built between the city and the river to be reached. Three figures stood on the roof, and she felt a terrible falling in her stomach when they resolved into only Jade, Vriska, and Dave.

Jade was the first to run to them when the bridge fully connected, and she hurried to help Rose stand when Nepeta turned slowly to slide her off. She wrapped her arms around Rose and held her tight, holding her up while she trembled and wheezed. When she tried to move Rose into walking, Rose’s legs wobbled. They remained too weak to follow the command that swept in and caught her mind, and she pitched forward. Hands grabbed her shoulders and brought her back upright. Rose looked up to find Vriska standing before her. The vague burst of gratefulness died the moment she saw Vriska’s fangs; Gamzee’s smile flashed before her eyes. She tried to pull away with a scream building in her throat.

Dave was there in an instant, clapping his hand down over her mouth to smother the sound. He fought down her panicked squirming and wrestled her across the rest of the bridge with Jade and Vriska’s help. When they were all across, John destroyed the bridge with a hammer strike. Nepeta scurried across the roof and peered down. She gestured for them to follow before pointing at the roof of the nearest building, another three storeys down. Jade drew her rifle and cracked off a shot, and they bolted down the bridge with John destroying it behind them.

The frantic pounding of her heart had grown to pain; Rose could barely breathe. Her head ached and her vision swam. She still struggled against Dave, unable to keep down the panic of being bound by his arms. Eventually, her feet tangled in his and sent them down to the rooftop. He swore as they hit the ground, and they rolled apart in their tumbling. Rose stopped on her side, hands falling limp and legs twisted. She was rolled onto her back, and John shook her shoulders. She saw his mouth move, but his sound was lost in the noise that still sang inside her skull. With a last shaky breath, her eyes slid shut and her senses left her.

\-------

 _s p e a k e r  
y o u n e e d u s  
y o u w i l l a l w a y s n e e d u s  
W E A R E H E R E S P E A K E R  
S P E A K E R  
Y O U W I L L B E G_

She jolted back to consciousness with a strangled gasp. She was in a soft chair; her fingertips felt smooth leather when she shifted. Her eyes peeled open out of sync and she looked up slowly.

Terezi sat in a wooden chair not five feet away, legs crossed at the knees and hands folded over the head of her cane. There was no smile on her face, but Rose jumped at the sight of her regardless.

Terezi lifted a hand. “Stop that. You’re not in the Cruelest Bar at all. Gamzee won’t find you.”

“Where are we?”

“My city hive.” She snickered. “It’s not too far away from the Bar, but no one’s going to be looking in a legislacerator’s hive for fugitives. Which they really _should_ , in my case. I’ve got three-fourths of the freak brigandrifts here, plus one Vriska Serket. Add Karkat and myself, and you’ll have a couple of traitors to the current empire.”

Rose stared. “You—you’re _what_?”

“Loyal to justice first, then Feferi Peixes.” She cackled. “I wonder how Karkles is going to react when he learns he has to team up with his kismesis to help the rebellion succeed!”

Rose did not speak. Her lips remained parted, brows low over wide eyes.

At the silence, Terezi stood up. She set her cane on her chair before advancing on Rose. She lifted her hands to her neck as she walked, and undid the clasp of a necklace. She held it out to display it and the small silver Cancer sign hanging on the chain.

“Why do you have Karkat’s sign on a necklace?”

“This isn’t just _his_ sign. Haven’t you heard of the Sufferer at all?”

“No. Excuse my ignorance of troll history.”

She cackled. “It wouldn’t be in any history book, since the Condesce struck him from all the records.” She put the necklace back on, tucked it inside her shirt, and began to pace in front of Rose. “The Signless Sufferer was a preacher, sort of like what Vantas _tries_ to be. But where Karkles preaches bloody rebellion, the Sufferer talked about all trolls being united and equal without threatening to cut off the head of the Condesce. The Sufferer wanted equal justice for everyone—which is why _I_ follow his teachings while I enact the law.”

“And...was this part of the deal Dave made with you? You secreting me away to your hive to sell yourself as a righteous traitor?”

Terezi grinned. “Pretty much. When I got the order that you alchemists would be better off dead than screwing things up even more, I cut a deal with him. He helps me find you _and_ helps me convince you to join Feferi’s rebellion, and I make sure you stay safe from the Bar and other highbloods. You didn’t let me explain before Vantas did an acrobatic pirouette off the rails—like he always does.”

Rose stared at her.

Terezi lifted a brow and sniffed hard. “Why aren’t you reacting? You smell so bland right now.”

“How exactly am I supposed to take this?” Rose asked. “Do I automatically trust you because Strider made a deal?”

“I _did_ get you away from Gamzee.”

She let out a vague hum to acknowledge her. She closed her eyes and put her hands on her face. Her skull felt fractured; she could still hear traces of singing and hissing. Eventually, she said, “Please tell me where Kanaya is.”

“The woman who was with you at the Blade?” A pause. “She’s your matesprit.”

“Yes, and I would be more willing to listen to you if I knew where she is and if she’s safe.”

“Oh, good. She was there when I sent Nepeta to meet with Feferi and get information—Karkles is, too.” She snickered. “I don’t know if he’s been told about me yet, but I hope I can be the one who tells him we have to work together. He turns such a delicious shade of red when he’s mad.”

Rose looked at her blankly. “Is there a way for me to go to her?”

“Not alone. I want to get you and the other alchemists to Feferi’s location.” She paused. “And Vriska, I guess, since the John human likes her. But Feferi’s place is safer than mine is—highbloods are less inclined to attack her, even if she’s not the empress yet.”

“And where _is_ her place?”

“Near the port. Almost completely across the city.”

“And what time is it?”

“The sun set a little while ago. You’ve been sleeping and crying in that chair the entire day.”

She closed her eyes and sat there for a long moment. She pushed herself out of the chair and locked her knees against the wobble of her legs. “Then we should go and not waste any time.”

Terezi grinned. “I like you humans. You’re always so eager to throw yourselves into danger for the dumbest reasons. It’s really entertaining.”

“Getting back to the woman I love is hardly a dumb reason to throw myself into danger.”

She cackled. “It doesn’t make it less entertaining!”

\-------

There was comfort to be had in pulling on all her things, Rose found. When Terezi returned her hat, scarf, coat, guns, and bag, she felt safer. It didn’t stop her from constantly looking over her shoulders as they made their way through the city. Nepeta and Terezi led them on, walking hand in hand. When she looked back to Vriska and John, their hands were clasped; Jade had grabbed hold of Dave’s hand and ignored his exasperated look. She put her own hands deep inside the pockets of her coat to hide their continued trembling. She still heard singing, and her throat was closed so tightly she did not think she could speak.

The buildings closest to the Bar housed bluebloods and those bordering on purple and indigo, and there was almost no carousing and brawling for it. Those who were outside with the early hour moved away naturally at the sight of Terezi; some bowed as they went. No one questioned them, or even looked askance.

The moons and stars were hidden so thoroughly behind thick clouds that the streetlamps were alight throughout the city. When they left the highblood areas and set into those of the middlebloods, the noise of fighting was subdued. They were more reluctant to step aside, but quick bursts of the Mindgrip made everyone move. They kept to the main roads, traveling quiet and direct.

Thunder rolled along the bottom of the clouds, but there were no flashes of lightning to be seen. The first great crack of sound made Rose flinch and duck her head down. Ahead, Terezi began to walk faster.

“Come on,” she called over her shoulder. “It doesn’t smell like rain, but my nose’ll get all messed up if we’re out in a storm.”

Fewer and fewer trolls were on the streets as they continued on. Eventually, they were left completely alone, their footfalls sounding loud between the thunderclaps. Nepeta clung tighter to Terezi’s hand; Vriska looked up into the sky with narrowed eyes. It was some time before any of them spoke, and it was Nepeta, then, who broke the quiet. She took her hand from Terezi’s to run to the center of the wide, empty city square they had arrived at.

“I know this place!” she said. “We’re almost there!”

Rose barely heard her over the shrieking inside her head. She stopped walking entirely and put her hands on her face. Pain lanced back and forth between her ears; she kept her jaw slack and her eyes closed lightly. A hand came down on her shoulder, and she brought down her hands to see Dave standing before her. He opened his mouth.

Their catalysts appeared, unbidden, in their hands. When they looked to them, sparks had begun to crackle along the surface of the catalysts. Just as tails of electricity snapped at their arms, a bolt of green shot down from the sky.

Jack Noir stood before them.

Nepeta had the good sense to turn around and run back to the rest of them. Her body bristled; all the trolls stood tense and with their fangs bared. Terezi swung her cane up from the ground and pulled it apart to reveal two short swords; Vriska drew her dice. Dave and John reached out and grabbed them both, pulling them back.

Vriska reacted first: she snarled, “Fuck you, John—let me help—”

“You’re not an alchemist,” he said through clenched teeth. “The Octet won’t work, even if you get all eights.”

“Go to Feferi’s place and get Karkat and Kanaya,” Jade said. “I’ll cover you.”

Vriska opened her mouth to argue further, but John cut her off with a brief, hard kiss. When he pulled away, she stared at him with wide eyes. He swallowed hard and pushed her gently. His smile was strained, and Vriska felt her breathing stop. Terezi grabbed her wrist and wrenched her to the side, and she did not resist. She, Terezi, and Nepeta sprinted away into a side street, and Jade kept her rifle trained on Noir’s head.

He did not chase after them; he kept his white eyes on them. He smiled, lips peeling back along his muzzle to show his fangs.

“Hello, parents,” he said.

They started in unison. Jade’s mouth fell open, and Dave hissed a curse. John brought his hammer behind his back and swung it down two-handed. The ground shattered at the strike, and a great swell of dagger-ended spikes erupted beneath Noir’s feet. At the first stab of the points into his feet, Noir howled and leaped away. Jade fired, aiming for his chest. The edges of his body blurred, flickering as green lightning wound around him. The shot went straight through him without touching him, smashing into a far building and exploding.

As he landed from his jump, his body shifted, arms lengthening. He hit the ground on balanced hands and feet and began to run with the gait of a wolfhound. Each shot Jade fired was dodged with leaps and bounds, and when he had circled the square to come near them, he leaped bodily at her. His body shifted back, and his sword appeared in his hands.

Dave darted in, meeting blade with blade. The steel met with a great shrieking, lightning arcing around the both of them. Where Dave shouted with pain, Noir barked laughter. A hard shove knocked Dave to the ground, but Rose was there in an instant to catch Noir’s blade in the cross she made of the Thorns. The instant after that was all John needed to come in on Noir’s right with his hammer swinging.

Again, Noir’s body blurred. John’s swing went right through him, but when he stumbled from the force, Noir was solid enough to fall against. He turned his head, jaw opening to let his fangs drip onto John’s face. So focused on John, he barely reacted in time to Rose thrusting a needle at his face. He rocked his head back, but not enough. The needle, covered in electricity, slashed through his left cheek and eye, and bright red blood spurted from the wound. He stumbled back with a raged snarl, clapping a clawed hand down over his face. When he drew his hand away and saw the blood, he let out a roar that rattled the sky.

“You little _bitch_!” he screamed.

They all flinched, but Rose stopped breathing. Her instincts were the only thing that drove her in that moment, and they made her flick both needles at him. The bolts hit him on his shoulders, rocking him back with the explosions they made. Dave ran in as the explosions faded, swinging his sword at Noir’s neck. The strike was parried; Noir made to stab at Dave’s face. A shot from Jade knocked the sword back enough for Dave to slip aside and bring his own blade up once again.

It was a dirty duel, feints and parries and thrusts bringing sharp slashes bearing lightning through flesh. Though Dave did manage to give Noir a few wounds, most of the injuries were Dave’s. With a curse, he rammed his foot into Noir’s gut to drive him back half a pace and rent a gash across his chest. The next hard swing down from Noir made his wrist tingle, and in the moment where his arm was still, Noir raked his claws across the back of his hand. He shouted with the pain; the sword slipped from his hand.

John let out a bellow as Noir lifted his sword once again. He charged in and slammed his hammer against the sword, knocking it clean from Noir’s grasp. He swung again and again at Noir’s head, almost dancing to follow Noir in his retreat. A sudden shot from Jade tore a hole through one of Noir’s ears, and John turned on his heels to spin about and smash the hammer against the wound Dave had made on Noir’s chest while he was occupied with howling in rage and pain. Noir flew back through the air and crashed down at the far end of the square. When he sat back up, they saw vivid white cracks spreading from the cut on his chest.

Jade fired off another shot. Though he tried to blur out of the world, he was not quick enough; the shot pierced his right shoulder and rocked him. The pain quickened him, and he was able to dodge the next shot and hurry back to his feet. He glared at them with his remaining eye, blood leaking down his frame. His body seemed to vibrate with the snarling coming from his throat. The twitching of his canine ears to the beat of the thunder overhead sent flecks of blood flying from the ruined one.

In the stillness of the moment, running footsteps sounded off. They all turned as one to see trolls spill out from the side street. Karkat and Kanaya were at the front of the group, catalysts in hand; Vriska and Terezi were behind them, weapons drawn. Everything fell back into stillness for a long while.

Dave broke the quiet: “Pyrope, you gotta dust outta here. You ain’t an alchemist.”

John was next: “Vriska, go!”

Noir began to laugh.

Karkat sneered and dropped down to stab his sickles into the ground. The pillar of stone that erupted at Noir’s feet was unexpected, and it hit his chin so hard he was flung off his feet. He flipped over in the air and landed upright; his remaining eye was wide, his face twisted with rage.

“Get lost!” Karkat snapped, rising to his feet. He turned back to look at Terezi and Vriska, and shouted, “I said _go_!”

Terezi smiled, but grimly. “You’re in no place to give orders to a legislacerator, Karkles.”

“You want to die? Then fucking stick around! Otherwise, leave! And that goes _double_ for you, Serket!”

“Make me,” Vriska said with a scowl. She turned the scowl on John and lifted a brow. He looked back at her with a frown of his own, but he did not order her again.

Rose stared at Kanaya, eyes wide. The singing inside her skull had returned upon seeing her, and her chest was tight. Kanaya gave her a small smile tinged with fear; she nodded once in return.

Noir howled to shake the sky, and all attention returned to him. Rose stepped forward with a one-two slash of the Thorns. The first blast missed Noir’s head by inches; the second he cut in half with his sword. John and Karkat moved in tandem, bringing their catalysts down to the ground in the same moment. Stone spikes erupted on either side of Noir, rushing in at him. He jumped straight up to avoid them, but they exploded into a bolt of lightning when they crashed together. He roared with the lightning winding around him, but twisted free and landed on the hands and knees of a shifted, wolfen body.

When he vanished with a whipcrack of sound, they froze. Another crack sounded, and Terezi yelled as he fell upon her from above. She got her swords between them and stabbed at his chest. The blades slid cleanly into and out of his body; he laughed and did not bleed. He opened his mouth, more than wide enough to rip off her face in one clean bite, and made to lunge. He paused when eight dice bounced off the side of his face, and turned to see them fall. Upon their falling, a torrent of blue fire poured from them and struck Noir with enough force to throw him off of Terezi.

He stood and shook the flames from his body; he took the blades from his chest and threw them aside. He growled, lightning of his own arcing around him. While his bleeding slowed, the wounds did not disappear. With a renewed snarl, he disappeared again. He reappeared in front of Kanaya, sword held high. The panicked cry that left Rose’s mouth did not make him falter, but the way Kanaya’s chainsaw caught his blade without the engine dying did. He stared; she revved the chainsaw.

With each new revving, more lightning grew between the chainsaw’s teeth. It snapped at Noir’s sword, and a metallic whine began to grow. Kanaya pressed forward, revving the chainsaw even more. The sword began to vibrate. All at once, the blade snapped. Noir’s jaw dropped, and Kanaya swung her chainsaw. She lopped his left arm off just above the elbow.

Noir screamed, dropping his sword and stumbling away with blood pouring from the stump. He grabbed at his shoulder, pressed at the gunshot wound that was already there. Rose, Jade, John, and Dave stood frozen in shock. Karkat and Vriska laughed aloud. When Noir tripped on his own feet and hit the ground, Kanaya advanced on him. She went quickly, revving the chainsaw again to catch more lightning in its teeth. He sat with his head bowed.

Rose began to run.

Noir lifted his head to show his fang-filled smile.

Kanaya hesitated.

Rose reached out.

Noir’s hand punched a hole clean through Kanaya’s gut, and her jade blood shone bright on the claws wrapped around the piece of her spine he had ripped out.

Rose didn’t have time to scream before Noir threw Kanaya at her. She hit the ground with Kanaya atop her, and she frantically sat up on her knees to gather Kanaya in her arms.

“No no no _no_!”

There was terror and pain in Kanaya’s eyes. She stared up at Rose with blood leaking from her mouth.

“Oh God no Kanaya don’t go wait wait _please_!”

She tried to speak, but her lungs would not let out the air they held. She could not move, even when Rose kissed her desperately and cut her lip on her fang. All she could do was try to lift her hand when Rose pulled away. She managed to make it partway up, and she clutched at the collar of Rose’s shirt when her strength failed her.

“Kanaya!”

Her head settled against Rose’s chest.

“Kanaya, no!”

Her eyes drifted shut.

“ _Kanaya, please don’t leave me_!”

She died.

Rose couldn’t breathe. She kneeled there and stared at Kanaya’s face, at the smooth and calm expression of death. She felt something brush against the end of her nose and looked up.

Noir stood before her. In his hand was his sword, repaired and still sparking with lightning. He brought the tip of the blade to the side of her neck and cut a line through her skin. He made no further movement.

“Just fucking _kill me_!” she screamed. “What are you waiting for?”

“I’m not here to kill you, mother,” he said. He smiled. “I’m going to make you suffer.” He chuckled. “And I’m going to have a lot of fun doing it.”

She watched as great black wings manifested from his back. She did not lift her gaze to watch him leap up and fly into the black clouds. Her head dropped down and her eyes returned to Kanaya. She stared and remained still and silent. Kanaya’s blood was cool against her body; it soaked through her jeans and spread beneath them on the ground. She still could not breathe.

“Rose?”

She didn’t know who spoke. She couldn’t recognize voices.

“Rose? I’m...we’re...”

A hand touched her shoulder.

She set Kanaya’s body down gently before summoning up the Thorns. With touches of their tips to the ground, the others were knocked from their feet by swells of stone striking them. Another touch, and their hands were bound in stone.

Rose was deaf to the bellows of confusion Karkat, Vriska, and Terezi let out. She was deaf to the shouting John, Jade, and Dave made. She pulled off her bag, her scarf, her coat, and her hat and set them all aside. She swept a needle through the pool of Kanaya’s blood, drawing it up and into the deep, broad bowl she created with the other needle. She took the bowl in hand and stood up. She walked some distance away, set the bowl down at her feet, and dipped her hands to the wrists into the blood. When they were coated, she crouched down to paint the ground.

Amidst her refreshing the blood on her hands, she caught sight of things she did not acknowledge. She saw Jade screaming so loudly she was red in the face, and pulling so hard at the stone around her hands that her arms were bloody for it. She saw John writhing in silence, arms as bloody as Jade’s, but his face was streaked with tears and his eyes were massive with panic. She saw Dave with his sunglasses lying broken in the dust, and his red eyes blazing with rage as he roared and tried to free himself.

Rose painted a perfect epicycloid. She moved the nearly empty bowl of blood slightly before standing up and returning to Kanaya’s body. She lifted the body up and brought it to the center of the transmutation circle. Carefully, she swept a Thorn through the remaining blood and brought the needle to the hole in the body. With a flash of lightning, the blood had rushed back to the body and the wound was closed. Rose stood again and took the bowl with her as she moved outside the circle. She cast it aside and lifted her hands.

After she undid two buttons of her shirt, she brought her fingers to the wound Noir had made. She coated the thumb, index, and middle fingers of each hand with her blood. The first mark she made on her neck: a one-sided arrow pointing down to her chest. The next mark came below the first: a circle struck through by two angles that formed a diamond in the center. More lines pierced the circle beside each point of the angles, and two small runes were placed within the circle, just outside the diamond the angles made and at twisted positions to each other.

She coated her fingers again. The next marks were made on her arms: two thin, parallel bands of blood. She drew more runes close to her elbows, and bisected the second band with a streak of blood down the center of her arm to follow her veins. A final coat of blood on her fingers allowed her to draw the last marks in her palms. A great circle housed a triangle, and the triangle housed a smaller circle.

As Rose dropped to her knees, all she could see was Kanaya’s body. All she could hear was the singing in her head.

She set her hands on the transmutation circle’s lines and closed her eyes.

\-------

She opened her eyes to darkness and forms made of inky shadows. She looked up until she could look up no further.

 _s p e a k e r  
y o u n e e d u s_

“Give back her soul!” Rose said. “I’ll give you whatever you want—just put Kanaya’s soul back in her body! Let her live!”

 _o h  
s p e a k e r  
h a h a h a_

“I’ll be your speaker!” she said. “I’ll do whatever you want me to! Just don’t eat her soul! Give Kanaya back to me!”

 _s h e i s n o t y o u r s  
s p e a k e r  
s h e i s n o t y o u r s_

“She’s not yours! _I’ll_ be yours! Give her back!”

 _h a h a h a  
s p e a k e r  
y o u u n d e r s t a n d n o t h i n g_

“I don’t care anymore! Don’t eat her soul! Take mine— _take me instead_!”

 _o h  
s p e a k e r  
w e h a v e  
a l r e a d y  
d e v o u r e d h e r  
b u t_

Pressure wrapped around her limbs, her body, her throat. A great swell of singing and screaming echoed around her. Rose stopped breathing and stared up into the darkness. Uncountable glowing gold eyes opened and stared back.

 _B U T  
W E  
W I L L  
T A K E  
Y O U  
A N Y W A Y  
S P E A K E R_


	14. Reasons to Go on Living

Rose lifted her head and screamed, and there was inhuman shrieking in the sound. It rolled in the clouds, beating out the thunder, and grew louder with each passing moment. It seemed it would go on forever, but Rose suddenly fell forward. She choked and coughed, and blood came from her mouth. She clutched at her throat. When she opened her mouth again, writhing shadows poured from her lips. They oozed up in the air, rolling over her face and surrounding her wide, pure white eyes.

Jade, hands covered in scrapes and blood, grabbed her from behind and heaved her away from the circle. Rose struggled against her, and the howl that came from her was not made of her own voice. Dave was there next, pulling both of them along by the backs of their shirts. Rose’s struggling grew more violent, her elbows striking Dave and Jade alike. She let out another scream, and the shadows flowed down her neck and over her shoulders. She twisted, and they were thrown completely off of her by black tendrils. When she tried to stand, John tackled her and grabbed her hands to pin her down.

“Rosie!” he shouted in her face. “Rose Lalonde, listen to me! Come back! Stop listening to them—you have to come back!” The tendrils slammed into his stomach, throwing him up and away. He landed on his back with a choked gasp; he rolled to one side, too winded to stand, and watched her rise.

The shadows fell along her body, staining her skin gray. Lightning had touched the sigils drawn in her blood when the transmutation started, searing them into her flesh, and they showed brilliant scarlet as the gray seeped down. She screamed again, and again she coughed blood from her shredding throat.

Vriska ran to her and swung her balled-together hands up hard to strike her on the jaw. She was lifted from her feet with the force of the blow and fell as though to land on her back. Before she hit the ground, the shadows swelled beneath her and kept her in the air. They lifted her slowly, tilting her upright. She hovered before Vriska, teeth bared and face twisted. Vriska hesitated; she faltered and took a step back.

It saved her. It gave Karkat enough space to run between them and deflect the Thorn Rose thrust at Vriska’s neck with his sickles. The lightning flew off into the sky, and she turned her furious gaze upon him.

“You stupid fucking _witch-bitch_!” he shouted. Diluted red tears streaked his face, and his voice broke in weeping. “What are you _doing_? Kanaya wouldn’t want you to do this! She didn’t _die_ so you could go insane!”

Rose lifted the Thorns over her head, crossing them to drag them against one another. Lightning arced between them, thick and hissing, and cast green light on every inch of the city square. Before she could move, two gunshots rang out. The needles went spinning out of her hands, and she whipped about to shriek wordlessly.

“Karkat, don’t hurt her!” Jade cried. “You can’t hurt her!”

“The fuck I can’t!”

He lifted a sickle and aimed his swing at her back. The shadows swelled up under her feet, lifting her away from his blow and smashing against his face when he stumbled in. She turned her fingers and caught the Thorns in her hands, but stopped short. Her gaze had fallen on Kanaya’s body and, for a moment, fury left her face for pain. Her brow furrowed; her eyes clenched shut; and she let her head fall back to scream louder than she ever had before. When her breath ran out, her head rolled forward and she coughed blood down her front.

“Lalonde, get your ass down here!” Dave yelled. “Knock this shit off!”

She ignored him. She looked about, and stopped only when lightning crackled up her arms from the needles. Her gaze had turned to where Noir had flown away.

“Rose!” Dave shouted. “Rose, _stop_!”

She ignored him.

“ _Sister_!”

The shadows launched her through the air to land in far-off streets they could not see. They stood frozen for a long moment, faces pale with shock.

Jade was the first to move, and she hurried in the direction Rose had gone. She paused to turn back and say, “We have to follow her! Come on!”

“How the fuck are we supposed to stop _that_?” Vriska snapped. “It’s gone insane!”

Dave stormed over to her, grabbed the front of her coat, and shook her furiously. “Don’t call my sister an ‘it,’ you whackjob pirate! We’re going to get her back, and if you’re not gonna help us, you stay the fuck outta our way!”

“Guys, we have to go _now_ before she gets too far away to track!” John said. “Stop fighting and let’s _go_!” He began to run after Jade, but stopped.

Karkat had gone to Kanaya’s body and dropped down beside it. His sickles lay on the ground for a moment before disappearing. His hand rested on her forehead, and he swayed slightly where he kneeled.

John went to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you going to come with us?”

“I can’t leave my moirail here,” he whispered. “I can’t—I _can’t_.”

Terezi went to his other side and touched his shoulder lightly. “I’ll send Nepeta to get Feferi. She’ll help you move the body.”

“ _Her_ ,” Karkat whimpered. “Move _her_.”

Terezi nodded, once to him and once to Nepeta. Nepeta nodded in turn and bounded away. Taking a deep breath, Terezi turned to the others. Though she opened her mouth to speak, she was interrupted. Something exploded in the distance; the sound of screaming came afterward. They bolted, sprinting through streets and alleys to chase the noise.

\-------

Tavros was certain he was ready for anything. He had studied hard under Jade’s tutelage, and harder still after making his catalyst. He was ready to use alchemy outside the caverns, ready to stand with the rebellion and fight. So when people rushed into the caverns screaming that the demon was in the city, when he and Aradia emerged from underground to hear explosions and screaming, he was ready. He ran side-by-side with her to hunt the demon, and he was certain he would help slay it.

When they rounded the final corner and came to the source of the chaos, however, he lost his certainty. Trolls were running from a figure shrouded in shadows, but it was a figure he recognized.

Aradia reached out to grasp his elbow. She whispered, “Oh no. Tavros, look at all the blood on her. All the _jade_.”

Rose threw lightning in every direction, blasting troll and city alike. She screamed noise so piercing it made others wail in pained response. Her head turned this way and that, and she roared nonsense that could have been a name. Tavros and Aradia moved in unison, sprinting in an arc around her. When she turned her needles upon them, they struck the ground with their catalysts to bring up shields of stone and asphalt.

“Rose!” Tavros called. “Rose, can you hear me? You have to stop what you’re doing!”

In the moment Rose’s attention was directed at Tavros, Aradia lashed out with her whip. It wrapped around one of Rose’s arms and she pulled hard. Tavros charged in while she was unbalanced, catching her in his arms. She howled and fought, dragging her heels down his shins. He did not release her, instead holding her tight enough that she could not draw breath. The shadows around her swelled in response, swarming up to close around his neck like a noose. He gagged and let her go. She spun about to aim a Thorn at his forehead, but Aradia rammed her head into her back and threw her clean over Tavros.

“I don’t know what happened,” Aradia said, “but you can’t do this! You have to calm down! We’ll help you find Kanaya! We’ll help her!”

Rose shrieked as she got to her feet. But while her mouth moved in speech, her words were lost in a language they could not understand. Blood oozed down her chin as she screamed. Her gestures were quick and violent, fingers curling and uncurling. They could only stare at her, and their eyes widened when she lifted the Thorns. Her attention was drawn away by a troll rushing in with a knife drawn. She turned the Thorns on him, and he disintegrated down to his black bones.

Glowing blue dice landed at Rose’s feet. She looked down, and was forced to her knees by the weight of the stocks that appeared around her hands and neck. She struggled to get her feet back beneath her, but was knocked to the ground by the fist that slammed into the side of her face. Tavros and Aradia stared again as Vriska stormed forward and grabbed Rose by the back of her shirt.

“Gog _dammit_ , get a hold of yourself, alchemist!” she snarled. “You’re scaring the shit out of everyone!”

Rose twisted about and spat blood and black ooze in her face. She snarled back in turn, but her words remained lost in a different language. Her hands turned too quickly for Vriska to catch them, but she was still quick enough to dodge the lightning Rose fired at her. The shadows ripped the stocks apart, and she aimed at Vriska again. She dived out of the way, snatching up her dice as she went. She would have thrown them for a roll had John not burst from the same alleyway she’d emerged from to grab her and pull her out of the way of another shot. Jade, Dave, and Terezi came through when the explosion passed, and Jade lifted her rifle.

“Rosie, don’t make me shoot you!” she said. “Please don’t make me shoot my best friend!” She choked, and her voice broke when she said, “I’m so sorry Kanaya died—but please don’t do this! Come back!”

Rose began to swing her arms in; Jade took aim and fired. Rose roared when the bolt pierced her shoulder. The shadows kept her from falling, and she brought a needle up to the wound to close it. Though Jade fired another shot to stop her, the shadows moved again to catch the bolt, and it disappeared in the black. When Rose fired a shot back at them, John swung his hammer and knocked the lightning up and away into the clouds.

Tavros ran forward with his lance aimed at her back. The shadows reacted for her and lifted her up off the ground, and Tavros charged straight through them with lightning cracking a way through the dark. Rose leaped to a rooftop and her attention left them. She screamed the lost-language noise and fired into the clouds. Dave and Terezi ran to the building she alighted on, and Dave swung his sword into the bricks to form a staircase up. Terezi ran up first, and she thrust her swords at Rose’s hands. Rose turned in time to sidestep, but Terezi stepped in to follow and began to fence with her, needles against swords.

“Don’t fuckin’ cut off my sis’s hands!” Dave shouted. “Will you trolls stop tryin’ to fuckin’ _kill_ her already?”

“If we incapacitate her hands, we can stop her!” Terezi barked back. “We can deal with little injuries like that later if she hasn’t blown our heads off! Now get in here and help me!” She yelped when a strike from Rose snapped one of her swords, and again when she dodged the lightning flung at her face.

Dave ran in and swung his sword to knock the needles from Rose’s hands. When she tried to summon them again, he threw his sword down and caught her hands in his. “Sis, _stop_! Cut this grimdark shit out _now_!”

She rammed her head against his nose, and he released her with a shout of pain. The shadows lashed out and struck him across the chest, and Terezi caught him as he stumbled and tripped. Rose caught the Thorns again and made to lift them, but a whip wound around her torso and pinned her arms to her side. Aradia pulled hard and fast, dragging Rose off the building entirely as she leaped from the rooftop. Though she landed on her feet and pulled Rose down to crash on her back, the shadows caught her before she hit the ground. They wrenched the whip away from her body, and Rose took to her feet with another blood-filled scream.

\-------

Karkat did not acknowledge the noise in the distance. He kneeled in silence and stroked the line of Kanaya’s brow with his thumb. He knew he was crying quietly, red tears on display, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. He stared at Kanaya’s smooth face because he could look nowhere else. He didn’t know what would happen if he looked at her body and all the blood upon her.

Fingers came to his shoulder and rested there gently. “Karkat?”

He sniffed. “Look how bad I fucked up,” he muttered. “I let my moirail get killed.”He glanced over as someone kneeled beside him and discovered Feferi. As she pulled down the hood of her cloak, he looked back to Kanaya. “And now I’m letting her matesprit go on a grimdark city-slaughter-spree because I can’t stop her without killing her.” He choked and closed his eyes. “But I can’t _do_ that. I can’t make Kanaya sad like that, even if she’s dead.”

“And you know Rose isn’t dead?” she asked.

“She didn’t get her spine ripped out, but I don’t know what the others have done by now.”

“Okay.” She brought her arm up to her mouth and slit her wrist. She opened Kanaya’s mouth and let her blood fall inside. After a few moments, she said, “Karkat, I need you to knock me out. It’s easiest if you hit my gills.”

He opened his eyes, jumping at the sight of the blood flowing into Kanaya’s mouth. “Peixes—what the _fuck_ —”

“I need you to knock me out right now.”

“ _Why_?”

“Because I can get Kanaya’s soul back into her body, but we need to do that before she turns into a zombie.”

“Before—” His eyes widened. “You’re going to—”

“Karkat, I’ll explain later, this will be the only time I _let_ you hit me, and I need you to do it _right now_!”

He slammed his fist into the gills on the side of her neck. She seized a moment before slumping over Kanaya’s body, and he was left in silence once again. He went to pull Feferi off of Kanaya, but stopped short of touching either of them. He stayed where he was and waited. The thunder made his head ache, and the explosions in the distance were suddenly far more piercing. He clenched his hands into fists tight enough to cut his palms with his fingernails. His throat was too tight to let him swallow, and he barely breathed.

Kanaya’s throat moved.

He started, jaw going slack.

Her throat moved again, and he realized it was rising and falling to swallow the blood in her mouth.

He reached out a hand, but held back. Her skin was growing pale, turning white. As it began to glow, her brows twitched. Her body shuddered, torso rising as though a line was pulling her from the center of her chest. Feferi sat up abruptly, and she put a hand on Kanaya’s forehead when she began to tilt forward. She put her other hand low on her back, over the ragged rip in her shirt, and made her sit with her back straight.

“Open your eyes,” Feferi said gently. “You’re all the way back now, no more dream bubbles. Open your eyes.” She took her hands away.

Kanaya’s eyes opened as she drew in a deep, shuddering gasp.

Karkat screamed; Feferi held him where he was.

Kanaya turned to look at the both of them. She turned away to look at her body. She scrabbled at her shirt, pulling it up to touch her stomach. She pulled her hand away to stare at her glowing skin. With a suddenness that made him scream again, Kanaya snatched hold of Karkat’s shoulders.

“Rose,” she gasped. “Where’s Rose?” She shook him, eyes widening, and said, “What has she done?”

“Holy _fuck_ , you’re not dead,” he said. He reached out to touch her shoulders in turn, and tears welled over in his eyes when he felt her move with her breathing. “How did—oh _Gog_ , Kanaya, he ripped out your—”

“Karkat, I _know_ what Noir did to me!” she snapped. “I _don’t_ know what happened to Rose! You have to tell me what’s going on!”

He faltered. “She—made this weird alchemy circle around you and—the other humans were screaming at her to not do it and that it wouldn’t—that you were dead and it wouldn’t bring you back.”

Her eyes widened further, and she looked down. When she saw the epicycloid painted in her blood, her mouth fell open. Her eyes pinched shut as a grimace twisted her face. “Oh, _Rose_.”

“We can still get her back,” Feferi said.

“She’s gone completely shithive maggots!” Karkat said. “We couldn’t even fucking _touch_ her! She’s got this grimdark shit blocking all of us, and she’s better at alchemy than anyone! How’re we supposed to stop her?”

“We have to get her soul away from the Elder Gods and into a dream bubble.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” he shouted. “I just said we can’t even touch her! How are we supposed to get her to dream?”

She opened her mouth, but said nothing. She closed her mouth and looked away.

Kanaya opened her eyes. “Karkat, did she do anything other than paint this symbol on the ground?” She turned back to him. “Were there any other things she used my blood for?”

“No—she used _her_ blood to paint some weird symbols on herself. Why?”

“Her bag—Karkat, did she take her bag with her?”

He turned to point. “No, it’s over there.”

She got to her feet and went steadily to the pile of Rose’s things. She returned with the bag in hand, sticking her arm in as she walked. She pulled out the notebook and tossed the bag aside. Flipping through them quickly, she scanned the pages until she found what she sought. Crouching down, she turned the book and held it out. “What symbols? Were they the symbols here?”

He stared at her a moment before looking at the book. He looked at the epicycloid, shook his head faintly, but stopped short when he spotted the diagram of the smaller circles positioned around the greater circle. He tapped it and said, “This! She drew all these on herself!” He shifted to crouch beside her and took the book in hand. “But she split them up.” He gestured to each symbol in turn, saying, “This was on her chest—this was on her arms—and these she made in her hands.”

“And she drew them in her own blood?”

“Yeah.” When she was silent, he turned to look at her. “Kanaya?”

She remained quiet, eyes wide with thought. She blinked once and said, “I have an idea.”

\-------

None of them wanted to admit it, but they were losing. They had long since grown tired physically, and then bordered on complete exhaustion. Beating out Rose’s speed had never happened, and it had become a struggle to match her and deflect her attacks. She remained constant, still a wraith screaming with fury. Her screams were punctuated more and more with bloody coughing, but they did not stop pouring from her mouth.

They did not want to admit it, but they were losing. Hope was leaving them, even as they fought against its departure. Each shot from Rose that shattered the city around them left them shouting, begging for her to stop. Their cries grew more desperate, more raged, more tear-filled, but Rose did not hear them. She did not focus on them unless they stood before her, and the less they were able to do so the less she looked at them. Dave tried once again to grab hold of her, but with the shadows flinging him away and into John, there was little left in any of them to continue standing.

With their falling, the shadows lifted Rose up and set her atop a low rooftop. She screamed into the sky, howling incomprehensible words. When she received no reply, no answer, she fired lightning into the low clouds again and again. Her noise was so loud she heard nothing around her, and so she did not hear the pounding footsteps coming from behind. She roared as she was slammed into from behind, and could do nothing as she and her assailant fell from the rooftop.

Even when the shadows loomed and caught her, she was not released. It was only when they dropped to the ground completely that she was let go, and she twisted about with a snarl. She turned directly into the punch delivered to her cheek and was thrown back to the ground for it. She had no time to react before she was grabbed by the front of her shirt and heaved up and off the ground. For a moment, when the glowing face before her came into focus, Rose was completely still.

“Give me back my Rose,” Kanaya hissed. “I know she’s still there—and I want her _back_.”

The moment passed and her fury returned even greater than before. The shadows swarmed around them, snatching hold of Kanaya and flinging her away. She twisted in the air to land on her feet, and summoned her chainsaw as Rose took hold of the Thorns and fired. With speed that blurred her form, she knocked the bolts away and brought her chainsaw back to slash the ground. Even the shadows could not react fast enough, and Rose was struck in the back by a pillar of stone.

She hit the ground wheezing and coughing blood. The shadows lifted her upright and brought her arms to bear. Before she could fire, Kanaya had darted in. Hands free of her chainsaw, she plucked the needles from Rose and skipped back. She dodged the shadows’ tendrils as they lashed out and held tight to the needles.

Rose screamed at her, and even in the lost-language the vehemence of her cursing was clear. She charged forward, swiping at Kanaya’s hands. Kanaya continued to dodge aside, slipping her hands away with time to spare. It was only when the shadows threw Rose at her that Kanaya halted, and she caught Rose in her arms. She pulled her head back as Rose lunged in with her teeth, twisting just enough that the bite landed on her shoulder and not her neck. Blunt though her teeth were, the force of the bite was enough to pierce Kanaya’s skin, and she tore away a piece of her shirt when Kanaya pushed her back.

On Kanaya’s chest were sigils that mirrored the ones on Rose’s chest, drawn in her jade blood. She tapped her shoulder with a needle to close the wound, and wiped away the blood that had already flowed down her skin to keep it from the mark. She did so with her blouse, and when she let go of the needles, she lifted her hands to show her palms. There were the same sigils as the ones in Rose’s hands, and her arms carried the last mirrored set. The sight of them made Rose roar, but her moment of fury kept her where she was a moment too long. Kanaya turned about and sprinted away, vanishing down an alleyway within seconds. Rose followed with the shadows pushing her faster; she knocked aside the troll that had come forth from the alleyway, and she vanished in the dark.

Karkat picked himself up off the ground and slapped the rubble-dust from his clothes. He turned to shout, “Fuck you, too, witch-bitch! I hope Kanaya beats the shit out of you!”

“ _Karkat_?” John asked. “Karkat, what’s going on? That was—that couldn’t have been—”

“It was Kanaya,” he replied. “Look—even I don’t know what the fuck is going on. Peixes did something weird that brought Kanaya back and she’ll explain later. But right now, Kanaya can move a lot faster than us and she’s leading Lalonde back to the transmutation circle.”

“What? What is she planning on doing?”

“Getting Lalonde’s soul back.”

\-------

The rage was burning her body. It was the rage that made her run as hard as she did, but it was the rage that made her scream hard enough to shred everything in her throat. It was the rage that made her fire blasts of alchemy aimed to destroy everywhere, but it was the rage that made her see everything as an enemy. It was because of the rage that she chased after Kanaya with howling in her bloody mouth, and the rage multiplied with every shot that Kanaya dodged. And because her body was burning, it was the shadows that had to make her run. Kanaya was still faster, and she put distance enough between them that Rose lost sight of her.

She sprinted into an open city square, stopping without stumbling only because the shadows kept her upright. Being still was not something she had done in so long, and she panted as she looked about. When her gaze fell upon a circle painted in green blood, she stopped completely. She could hear nothing beyond her own rasping, burbling breath, and again she could not hear the sound of footsteps pounding up from behind. She turned, but Kanaya grabbed her wrists and launched herself up from a crouch as she pulled Rose in. The head butt was enough to rock Rose off her feet and hang from Kanaya’s hands in a daze.

Before the shadows could catch her, Kanaya pulled Rose along to the transmutation circle. She pushed her down in the center and, summoning her chainsaw, bound Rose’s hands in stone to block the Thorns and pin her down. Though Rose’s senses came back in time to let her scream, though the shadows were already rushing to shatter the stone, Kanaya was quicker. She dashed outside the circle, dropped to her knees, and slapped her hands down on the lines.

She could not remember closing her eyes, but when she opened them again, she was no longer in the square. She stood in darkness and felt the air squirm around her. She cast her eyes about, and spotted a form in a white shirt and a black waistcoat lying slumped on a floor that did not seem to exist. Smiling, she hurried over. When she reached out to touch the form, it was pulled away. Rose, eyes open and unseeing, was pulled off the ground, and a wall of black shadows formed before her.

 _d r e a m e r  
y o u a r e n o t w e l c o m e_

“I’m afraid I don’t care if I have your welcome or not,” Kanaya said. Her smile grew brighter. “I’ll be taking Rose back now.”

 _y o u c a n n o t  
i t i s o u r s p e a k e r  
Y O U C A N N O T_

“Oh, but I can and I will,” she replied.

 _W E H A V E N O N E E D O F A D R E A M E R  
Y O U W I L L N O T T A K E H E R P L A C E_

“I didn’t say I was taking her place. I said I was taking her.”

 _Y O U C A N N O T_

“I intend to live out the rest of my life with Rose,” Kanaya said. “And when our lives end, I’m still going to stay with her. You will not take her away from me. Our souls are our own, and you may not have them.”

 _D R E A M E R  
Y O U C A N N O T_

She smirked. “Watch me.”

Golden eyes opened all around her as the world itself screamed, but she dashed through the noise and the darkness to catch Rose in her arms. She held her and ran, ignoring the howling and shrieking. In the distance was another form, clad in a dress with a bright purple Pisces symbol on its chest. Kanaya reached Feferi in seconds, and took the hand she offered. They began to fall, gaining speed with every second. Below them, something shimmered and glowed, and Feferi guided them down into the dream bubbles that waited for them.

\-------

“Rose? Rose darling, open your eyes.”

The world was too wrong to want to open her eyes. She knew if she opened her eyes the rage would swell up in her heart again, and she was so tired. She was so tired of breathing and existing and trying to think.

“Rose, I’m here. You don’t have to worry anymore.”

The gods were lying to her. They were trying to stir the anger in her heart, but she was so tired. She could not be angry anymore. Her limbs were too heavy to move, much less propel her to destroy the city as they wanted.

“Rose, I promise it’s all right. Just open your eyes.”

Her head was empty. There were no thoughts to be had. There was nothing to listen to, and she was grateful because she was just so tired.

“You won’t hear their singing anymore.”

There was nothing to listen to—nothing but the voice that was speaking from a living being.

“You’re safe from them. I’m alive, Rose, and so are you. Just open your eyes.”

All she heard was a familiar voice. All she felt beyond her weariness and pain was a familiar pair of arms. She was cradled in someone’s lap.

“Rose darling. _Rose_.”

She opened her eyes.

Kanaya was above her, smiling broadly. Her skin was glowing white and there were green streaks of tears on her cheeks. Kanaya was above her.

Rose stared up at her. She opened her mouth, but there was no voice left to use amidst the damage and blood. She could only say her name in silence, but Kanaya’s smile widened anyway. Rose reached up to clutch at Kanaya’s torn blouse, trying to pull herself up. There was no strength left in her to rise. Kanaya gathered her to her chest and shushed her, stroking her hair gently.

“We’re both here, darling. We’re alive. We’re safe.”

Rose closed her eyes, buried her face in Kanaya’s chest, and sobbed silently. A tiny smile had curled her lips.


	15. In the Hands of Royalty

It was the closest to death Rose had ever come. When the others had finally caught up to them and tried to make good an escape, she had been too weak to stand on her own. By the time they had arrived at Feferi’s hive-manor, she was unconscious once more. Jade anxiously worked at bringing her about, but was only able to make her spit out the last of the blood in her mouth and throat before she slipped back into the dark.

She was unable to eat for the damage in her throat; she could barely drink at all. She was wracked with a fever so high Jade rarely left her side, constantly replenishing cool water to soak towels and set them on her body. Kanaya watched her when Jade could no longer stay awake and held Rose down when her body shook violently with pain and heat. She held her hand, stroking gently at the dull crimson sigils in her palm and taking in the contrast between her own glowing skin and the ash gray of Rose’s.

Jade only attempted to heal Rose when she showed scraps of lucidity, and the going was slow. Each session yielded little progress; most of the alchemy ended with Kanaya pinning Rose to the couch she used as a bed while she writhed with the pain of electricity biting at the wounds in her throat. But progress remained progress, and by the end of the third day after their arrival Rose was finally able to drink an entire glass of water without choking and coughing out more blood.

It had been quiet ever since they arrived at the manor; the tiny sign of recovery was the most interesting news to be had. It filtered through the group so quickly that the fourth day began with visitors gently knocking at the door. They were turned away sooner than later, though, when Rose remained feverish and mute. Only John and Dave stayed longer than a few curiosity-fueled minutes, but they left when it was clear they could not help speed things along. The day ended with Rose’s fever subsiding just enough to let Jade go to sleep without fretting much.

Kanaya sat in the dark, reading by the light of her glow. Every so often, she took her time in turning a page to look about the room. Jade was sprawled on her back on the copy of the couch she had created for herself; she had fallen asleep so quickly her glasses were still on her face. A clock in the corner ticked quietly, but its chimes were silenced after the first time they startled Rose awake. Kanaya had long since brought her chair next to Rose’s couch, and she leaned to one side and peered down. Rose was curled on her side, arms folded against her chest. She breathed steadily, slowly, and her shaking was less than when Kanaya had last checked on her. With a small smile, Kanaya turned back to her book.

Someone pounded on the door. Four hard bangs sounded before Kanaya was out of her chair and wrenching the door open. She caught the offending fist mid-swing and scowled up at Eridan. He looked back at her with faint surprise.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m comin’ to find the alien.”

“I meant why are you making such a racket? You’re going to wake Rose and Jade.”

He shrugged. “So? I want the Rose alien awake.”

“ _Why_?”

“Look, lowblood, I’m just askin’ about the alien because Fef wants to know when she can finally talk to her,” he said.

“She will talk to Rose when Rose is able and willing to meet with her,” Kanaya replied. “The more you bother her by bothering us, the slower her recovery will be.”

“Just _fix_ her already, would you?” he snapped.

Her eyes narrowed. “She’s only just started drinking again.”

“So?”

“She hasn’t eaten for the last five days.”

“ _So_?”

“She is weak and injured and if we push her body any faster she runs a great risk of _dying_.”

He scoffed and sneered. “Fuckin’ weakling.”

She went quiet and completely still. She stared at him without blinking; a low growl rumbled up from her chest. As the growl grew darker, he faltered. Drawing a deep breath, he squared his shoulders and looked down his nose at her.

“That’s right,” he drawled. “You’re a rainbow drinker now, ain’t you.” He looked her up and down. “What’s it like being dead?”

As she spoke, she took care to show her fangs. “If you don’t leave _now_ , I’ll be more than happy to show you.”

His sneer took on the edge of a smile. “ _Feisty_ , huh? I see how it is. Should I tell Vris that she’s got some glowin’ competition for my black affections?”

“You can tell her that if she wants her kismesis to remain in one piece, she needs to keep you away from me _and_ Rose.” Faster than he could react, she summoned her chainsaw and held it out to his belly. “Leave.”

He stepped back half a pace, looking down to the chainsaw. With a slow arch of his brow, he looked up to her face. She snarled and thrust the saw at him. He gave a startled yelp and leaped aside. He looked back to her to find she was reaching for the starter cord, and he pelted away up the hall. She dismissed the chainsaw and barely kept herself from slamming the door shut. Despite the effort to be quiet, Jade was sitting up with a groan by the time she had turned around.

“Miss Kanaya?” she mumbled. She sniffed weakly, took off her glasses, and rubbed at her eyes. “What’s going on? Is Rosie okay?” Without waiting for an answer, she put her glasses back on and pushed herself to her feet. Shuffling carefully, she went to Rose and reached down. She put the underside of her wrist against Rose’s forehead, nodding slowly as seconds passed. “Well, that’s good. Her temperature is even lower than when we went to sleep.” She straightened, stretching with another groan. “Was someone at the door? You sounded really angry.”

“It was Eridan,” Kanaya said, voice curt. “He came asking after Rose and said it was for Feferi.”

Jade heaved a sigh. “I _told_ her I’m working as fast as I can. I still need to get Rose eating again before we can really worry about her talking.” She tipped her glasses up to rub at her eyes again. “Okay, I’ll just be up now. If her fever’s down this much, we might be able to get more done. Can you turn on the lights?” Wincing at the light going on, she sighed, rolled up her sleeves, and crouched down. Shaking Rose’s shoulder gently, she said, “Rosie. Rosie, come on, wake up.”

It was a few moments before Rose woke and reacted to the shaking, and she shook her head slowly and turned to hide her face against the cushions. She only looked up when Kanaya stroked her hair, and her eyes were bleary and unfocused.

“Okay, let’s sit up,” Jade said. She took hold of Rose’s shoulders and pulled her upright. Once she had settled Rose against the back of the couch, she looked closely at her face. “Rosie, wake up all the way and look at me. I need to make sure your fever’s really gone down. Come on, look at me.”

A moment passed, but Rose blinked hard and focused on Jade’s eyes. She looked away briefly, eyes searching until she saw Kanaya. Dazedly, she nodded once and turned back to Jade.

“Are you feeling any better today?” Jade asked. She tapped her own throat. “Any less pain?”

Rose took a deep breath carefully. Though she winced when she swallowed, it was short lived. She nodded again. She began to shiver, and she brought her legs up to her chest as she wrapped her arms around herself. Kanaya moved in to sit on the arm of the couch and put her hand on Rose’s cheek. Rose leaned into the touch, eyes closing halfway.

“Ah ah,” Jade said. “Don’t start falling back asleep. I want to try and get more done today. I _really_ want you to start eating again—you’re losing weight pretty fast.”

Another wince twisted Rose’s face, and she leaned away from Jade and Kanaya both.

Jade huffed, noise rushing from her nose. “Rosie, _please_. You have to eat something soon, or you’re not going to get better at all. You’ve got to put up with it hurting, okay? Let me have one of the Thorns.”

She shook her head, curling in tighter on herself.

“Rose, I know you’re tired and you’re feeling messed up from your fever and everything that’s happened, but you have to be able to eat! Stop acting like a baby about it hurting and just let me help you!”

She shook her head again and hid her face in her knees.

Sighing quietly, Kanaya put her hand atop Rose’s head. “Darling, you have to stop acting like this. We need you to get better, and you know that. And you also know that the Thorns are the best catalyst to use for careful work like this—so let Jade have one.” She stroked Rose’s ear with her thumb. “Please, darling.”

It took a full minute for Rose to move again, and she lifted her head slowly. Without looking at either of them, she turned her fingers and held out the needle that appeared. She uncurled her body as Jade moved closer. When she tilted her head back, she closed her eyes tight. She flinched at the way Jade pressed at her throat, but did not push her away.

“Okay, good,” Jade murmured. “You’re definitely not as torn up as when we got here. I think if we work hard right now, we can get some food in you today.” She took her hands away, but lifted the Thorn to touch it to the center of Rose’s throat. “Take a deep breath and hold it.”

She did as she was told, but Kanaya had to take hold of her shoulders to keep her from shaking too fiercely. Jade tapped needle to skin three times, once to the hollow of her throat and once to each side. Sparks danced between the three points before sinking into the skin, and Rose squirmed with the pain of it. Kanaya held her steady; Jade caught one of her hands and held it tight.

“You’re doing just fine,” Jade murmured. “It’ll fade, don’t worry.” When Rose’s shaking stopped, she patted her hand. “I’m going to check your throat again, so hang on.” She put the needle in her lap and returned her hands to Rose’s neck. As gently as before, she pressed here and there. “Okay...okay. Swallow.”

Tentatively, she did as she was told.

“Does it still hurt?”

A pause. She swallowed again. After a moment, she shook her head.

Jade sat up straighter. “It doesn’t?”

She shook her head. Her mouth moved, but no sound left her.

“No—Rosie, don’t try to talk yet. I don’t want you to reverse everything I’ve been working on by accident.” She smiled and reached to ruffle Rose’s hair with both hands. “But this is great! I can’t _wait_ to make you eat something!”

\-------

Rose was mute. Two more days had seen her fever break and some weight return, but she could not speak. She continued to sleep heavily, but was roused easier than before. She sat up and listened to the visitors that came to her. She gave them what responses she could: nods or shakes of the head and vague shrugs. Jade and Kanaya spoke for her instead, and let the others linger only if they did not misbehave. Vriska was usually ushered out within ten minutes; Kanaya never allowed Eridan to cross the room’s threshold no matter how he demanded or pouted.

Midway through the seventh night, another knock sounded from the door. When Jade opened it, it was to find Feferi standing in the hall.

“Hello,” she said with a smile. “Can I come in?”

“I—well, yes,” Jade said. “But I’ve been telling Eridan that Rose still can’t talk.”

“Oh, I know,” she replied, waving a hand as she walked inside. “That’s what I came here for. I want to try and heal her.” She stopped when she spotted Rose and Kanaya sitting side by side on the couch and gave another little wave. “Hello, ladies.”

Jade closed the door. “Heal her? I didn’t know trolls could heal.”

Feferi giggled. “I guess it’s not really _healing_ her, but I think I know how to get her talking again.” She moved close to Rose, leaning down and reaching her hands out toward her throat.

Kanaya was off the couch in an instant, grabbing Feferi’s wrists and snarling. She forced her back and away, glaring with narrowed eyes. “What are you doing?”

Feferi looked at her with an expression of mild surprise. “I’m trying to get her voice back.”

“By _strangling_ her?”

“Of course not!” she laughed. “That’s just silly.”

Kanaya’s snarling grew louder and darker until Rose stood up and put a hand on her back. She started at the touch, falling silent. After a moment, she let go of Feferi; her hands trembled as she brought them down to her sides. She closed her eyes tight and took a deep breath. “What have you done to me?”

She hummed curiously.

Kanaya opened her eyes, lips pulling back in a scowl. “What did you do to me when you brought me back to life?”

“I made you a rainbow drinker.”

“You’ve made me _wild_! I’ve wanted to cut your moirail in half every time I’ve seen him since you brought me back from the dead!”

“You wanted to, but you didn’t,” Feferi said lightly. “That’s what I was hoping for.”

“You wanted her to cut Eridan apart?” Jade asked.

She laughed again. “No, no, no! I knew you didn’t like him at all—I wanted you to keep yourself under control, and you’re doing great!”

“Then...you knew this would happen to me?” Her scowl darkened; her eyes widened. “You knew I would want to tear people apart? I have been fighting down the urge to rip _at least_ two people apart and drink their blood ever since waking up—and you _knew_ this would happen?”

The smile left Feferi’s face. “I did.”

“You knew and you still turned me.”

“I had to. I couldn’t let you die completely. I have to have as many players as I can to win this game we’re trapped in. Making you a rainbow drinker—a proper one—was the only thing I could do.”

“‘Proper’?” She sputtered angry laughter. “How is anything about this ‘proper’? I’m consumed with bloodlust.”

“You’re not consumed if you haven’t actually killed anyone. And if you haven’t killed Eridan for bothering you so much, then you’re doing really well.”

“Did you send him to bother us to _test_ me?”

She smiled gently. “No. I told him just once to check, and I’m sorry that he kept coming around.” When Kanaya’s expression did not change, she sighed quietly. She took Kanaya’s hands in hers and lifted them away from her sides. “Yes, I knew this would happen. Being a rainbow drinker in real life isn’t anything like in the novels. Your temper is going to be much worse than it was before...and you’ll always want to drink blood. You’ll have to.”

Kanaya made to wrench her hands away, but Feferi held tight. “But I could tell from the moment we met that you could handle something like this. You’re already getting used to it—you haven’t killed Eridan! You haven’t killed anyone! I don’t think you’ve even taken blood from anyone! You’re strong enough to _be_ a rainbow drinker, Kanaya. I’ve never met anyone in this world other than you who could possibly do it.” She squeezed her hands. “I’m sorry. I really am. Please, Kanaya—I need you to be alive, and I need you to not despise me. And right now, I need you to trust me enough to let me get near Rose.”

A long pause. Kanaya drew a deep, shaking breath and worked her hands free. She put the fingers of one hand beneath Feferi’s chin, forcing her to look up even further. “If you hurt her...if you _curse_ her like you’ve cursed me—”

“I’m here to _break_ a curse.” She stepped back and gestured to Rose. “There’s a reason she still can’t talk. The Elder Gods cursed her. They curse all of their speakers.” She looked to Kanaya. “I promise I’m only going to help. Can I touch her?”

Kanaya faltered. She turned to Rose. A long while passed before Rose nodded, and she stepped aside. Feferi moved in and reached out. At the touch of fingertips to neck, Kanaya let out a low hiss. With a soft shush of breath between her fangs, Feferi closed her eyes. She felt gently at Rose’s neck, mouth moving without giving up speech. She tilted her head slightly as her fingers came to a halt in the hollow of her throat. For an instant, her fingertips glowed a rich shade of purple; the color showed briefly on Rose’s throat when she drew her hand back.

She opened her eyes. “Okay, say something.”

Rose looked at her.

She giggled. “I mean it! Just say ‘hello’ or something.”

Rose sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth and grumbled, “Fine. Hello.” She jumped at the sound of her voice, hands rising to clutch her throat. Her voice cracked and rasped when she said, “Wait—how—”

Feferi laughed aloud and clapped her hands. “Oh, this is so exciting! I’ve never really done magic before!”

“ _Magic_?” Rose said. “What are you talking about? Magic—magic isn’t _real_.”

“Of course it is! I just did it! And you do it all the time!”

“Excuse me?”

“Magic is just creating change by manipulating energy,” Feferi said. “Alchemy is another form of magic.” She giggled. “But you learned how to do it _through_ science. That’s really impressive!”

Rose turned to Kanaya, eyes wide. “Is this what you meant when you called alchemy fake magic when we first met?”

“No,” Kanaya said slowly. “I didn’t think magic was real—you convinced me of alchemy being science.”

“It still is!” Feferi said, holding up her hands in placation. “It’s understanding and performing magic through science! And almost no one can do magic, so it’s amazing that all four of you can do it so well!”

“So how did _you_ learn to do magic?” Jade asked.

“The same way I learned how to turn Kanaya into a rainbow drinker—I was taught in the dream bubbles! It’s how I learned almost everything, really.”

“You’re saying that you’ve learned how to undo curses and resurrect the dead successfully—in dreams?” Rose asked.

“I don’t think I could resurrect someone who isn’t a troll, but yes. I had very good teachers.”

“Who in the hell could have taught you all of that?” Rose snapped, voice still breaking. “Why isn’t this information widely known?”

“Because Her Imperious Condescension struck the names of my teachers from all recorded history.” She smiled grimly. “She despised the Signless Sufferer, and she didn’t care for the Dolorosa, either.”

Jade rocked back, eyes widening. “The Sufferer? The guy Karkat keeps talking about all the time?”

Feferi nodded. “I don’t think he’s ever told anyone, but the Sufferer is Karkat’s ancestor.” She turned to Kanaya and said, “And the Dolorosa is _your_ ancestor. She was...she called herself the Sufferer’s ‘mother.’ She took him from the brooding caverns because of his mutant blood and raised him herself.” Her smile grew warm. “She was a brave woman.”

“Stop, stop, stop,” Rose said. “You’re telling us that you’ve spoken to people who have long since died in your _dreams_?”

“In dream _bubbles_ ,” Feferi replied. “Think of a dream bubble like a little fish tank for your soul. You’re safe, and you can visit all your memories and find out things you forgot in the waking world. But,” she said with a grin, “you can go to the dream bubbles of other people, too. Then it’s not just about reliving your memories—you get to interact with everyone you meet and learn so much. And you can meet anyone! Alive or dead, as long as they didn’t get tricked and eaten by the Gods.”

“‘Tricked’?” Rose rasped.

“No one has to be their speaker,” Kanaya murmured. “That’s what she said before, at least.”

Feferi giggled. “Yep! The place a soul naturally wants to be is in a dream bubble! You can be outside of a bubble and move your soul around, but it’s dangerous. That’s why the Gods want to have speakers: a lot of people don’t know it’s all up to them to stay or leave, so when they think that everyone gets eaten by the Gods, they wind up leaving the dream bubbles and getting caught.”

“So you’ve avoided being caught by the Elder Gods and taught magic by our ancestors?” Kanaya asked.

“Well, technically the Dolorosa taught me magic—and how to make proper rainbow drinkers instead of zombies.”

Kanaya lifted a brow. “Which is?”

“Any troll can come back to life if they drink blood after death, but they’ll be a zombie unless you get their soul back into a dream bubble.” She patted Kanaya on the shoulder. “She sent me the right way to find you.”

“If she taught you magic, then what did the Sufferer teach you?” Jade asked.

“His message. If he taught me his message before the Condesce or the Elder Gods got to me, then there’d be a much greater chance that change would happen.” She giggled. “It’s why I’ve been trying so hard to get on Karkat’s good side. If he knew I was working after the exact same goal as the Sufferer, he might be more willing to let me help.”

“And why have you been trying so hard to find alchemists?” Rose asked.

The smile slowly left Feferi’s face. She stepped back and gestured to the lamp hanging from the ceiling. “What’s powering this?”

Rose lifted a brow slowly, giving Feferi a withering stare. “Electricity.”

“And what do the lowbloods use for light?”

“Oil and coal, as far as I can tell. What does it have to do with alchemy?”

“Are you humans aware of the fact that Alternians can travel into space? Or that Her Imperious Condescension hasn’t been _on_ Alternia since the time of the Sufferer—more than five hundred sweeps ago?”

Rose and Jade stared in silence.

“That’s a no.” She sighed, looking to her hands and rubbing them together. “Everything that Karkat’s said—about me just wanting the power that alchemists can create? That’s true, but not for the reasons he says.” She looked up, gesturing at the walls around them with broad sweeps of her hands. “Think about how hard all the lowbloods have to struggle just to have steady light in their hives. But none of that is really _real_. The Condesce imposes limits on where electricity can go, and she kidnaps trolls the moment they show they have psionic abilities. We’re all stuck here...unless I can get power like the alchemists.”

“You want the Green Sun,” Jade said.

“If that’s what gives you all this energy, yes.” She reached out to catch Jade’s hands, holding them tight. “I don’t want to use Sollux as the engine in a battleship. I don’t want to use anyone as an engine. I have Karkat on my side—now I need the alchemists. Please.”

Jade smiled and opened her mouth.

“We’ll think about it,” Rose said.

The smile left Jade’s face as she looked at Rose. Her gaze was not met, and her lips pulled into a frown. She looked back to Feferi and smiled again. “Thank you so much for helping Rose. We’re going to _talk_ about it—right now.”

“Oh,” Feferi said, smile wavering. “Should I go?”

“Yeah, this is just going to be a boring chat,” Jade said, waving a hand dismissively. “I’ll come talk to you when we’re all done, so don’t worry about wondering and waiting! It shouldn’t be too long.”

“Well...all right.” She went to the door and opened it, but paused halfway out. “Rose, this is the first time I’ve used magic, and that was a powerful curse. I don’t know if your voice is ever going to be completely back to normal, so don’t talk _too_ much for now.”

“Don’t worry!” Jade said brightly. “I’ll make sure she keeps quiet!”

With a nervous shade in her smile and a small nod, Feferi departed and closed the door behind her. The silence that took her place in the room was absolutely and heavy enough to hurt. Jade moved to stand in front of Rose; she crossed her arms to drum her thumbs on her biceps. Though she was shorter than Rose by some inches, Rose’s gaze was so firmly upon the floor that her eyes could not be found.

“Well?” Jade said.

“Well what?” Rose replied.

“Why don’t you want to work with her? I hope you’ve got a really good reason, because you’re going to have to convince me pretty hard.”

“I’m not going to work with someone who says that alchemy is _magic_. That’s—”

“The truth, I think,” Jade said. “It explains things like Vriska’s fluorite octet.”

Rose’s head snapped up; her eyes were narrow. “We’re _scientists_ , Jade. We studied and theorized and made conclusions based in science, and I’m not about to—”

“Admit you’re wrong?”

“I am not _wrong_ —”

“You were wrong with the human transmutation theory,” Jade said. “You were wrong about what happens to souls after death. You were wrong about how to deal with the Elder Gods. You were wrong about how we’d all react to your being in love with Miss Kanaya.”

Rose bristled, face twisting in a scowl. “Don’t bring her into this!”

“I’ll bring her into the argument if she helps me make my point! Rose, you’ve been wrong about a lot of things, so maybe you’re wrong about what alchemy is! You’re just too proud to admit anything!”

“What does my pride have to do with anything?”

Jade sighed noisily through her nose and jabbed a finger against Rose’s chest. “Every last little thing! You don’t _ever_ admit when you’re wrong, so John and Dave and I have to go along with what you decide to do and clean up when things go wrong!”

“I never asked you to do that for me!”

Jade slapped Rose hard enough to make her stumble back. When she regained steady footing, Rose turned to stare at Jade with wide eyes. Kanaya stood by, eyes darting back and forth between the two of them.

“How—how _dare_ you say that?” Jade shouted. She stood straighter, throwing her hands in every direction to punctuate her words. “How could you _ever_ say that? We’re your family—of course we’re going to do that! We’re always going to look out for you and try to make sure you stay safe and sane and healthy! But God _dammit_ , Rosie, you are the most selfish woman in the universe! You probably don’t even understand _why_ I’m so angry at you!”

Rose was silent. She began to look away.

Jade stormed in to grab Rose by the front of her waistcoat. “Rose Lalonde, _listen_ to me! Look at what you did to yourself! Look at what your stupid, _stupid_ decision did to you! You knew damn well that the resurrection formula would never ever work, but you did it anyway!”

Rose stammered: “I—I had to try—”

She shook her furiously. “ _That doesn’t make it a good fucking decision_! You gave up your soul! You _knew_ that’s what would happen, and you did it anyway because you couldn’t stand being wrong!”

“I couldn’t stand living without Kanaya!”

“You can’t stand living without _punishing yourself_! That’s all you ever do anymore, Rose!” She shook her again, glasses fogging as her face grew red. “You’re so obsessed with Noir that you’ve stopped thinking about _anything_ else! You don’t think about how Feferi and Karkat are _right_ and this rebellion needs to happen—and it needs _us_! You’ve turned your life into this one giant revenge scheme against him, and you take any little failure as a reason to destroy yourself!”

Rose wrestled free, twisting about to snatch Jade’s shoulders. She shook her in return, voice rising enough to break sharply. “Kanaya _dying_ wasn’t a ‘little failure!’” She sucked in a breath to continue, but there were glowing hands around hers. With a faint sound of protest, she struggled against her hands being pulled away. Even as she was gathered back into a familiar embrace, arms pinned to her sides, she squirmed and resisted.

“No, it wasn’t a little thing,” Kanaya murmured. “I could—should—have been more careful around Noir. But if you couldn’t stand living without me, then how could you assume I could stand living with the knowledge that you gave up your _soul_ to try to bring me back? When I know that it wouldn’t have worked in the first place?” She brought her closer, hugging her tight. “Darling, you act as though you’re completely worthless. You run headlong into danger...and sometimes it seems like you _want_ to get yourself killed.”

Her struggling ceased with a final flinch of her entire body. She looked down; her voice grew weak. “I don’t—I just...”

“I’m scared that you think your life has no meaning beyond killing Noir. And I’m scared that you’re going to give up on living when we finally defeat him.”

She jerked her head up, looking from Kanaya to Jade and back again. “I’m not—I won’t—”

“Look me in the eyes and tell me that you really _believe_ you’re worthy of living.”

Rose’s eyes fell.

Kanaya turned her about, taking her shoulders in hand. She tilted her head down, seeking Rose’s eyes. “Why in the world do you _still_ believe you don’t deserve to live?”

With a broken voice, she said, “Because.”

“That’s not a good reason for anything,” Jade said. Her breathing hitched. “Rosie, do you really think you should _die_?”

Rose was silent.

Tears welled over in Jade’s eyes. “Oh my God—Rose, _why_? How could you ever think that?”

“I keep—I keep fucking things up. I fuck _everything_ up—it’s all I ever do.”

Kanaya put a hand beneath Rose’s chin and made her lift her head. “You can’t tell me that there’s a person in existence who hasn’t made mistakes. Darling, _we don’t blame you_. We don’t blame you for what’s happened.”

Rose was silent beyond the sound of her shaking breath.

Jade went to her and hugged her from behind. She nuzzled her head between Rose’s shoulder blades, squeezing her tight. Her voice was muffled, but she spoke loud enough to be heard. “You’re so _stupid_! How could you ever think that? You weren’t the only one who made that formula—you weren’t the only person who sinned! We’ve never been mad at you for what happened with Noir or our parents! We love you _so much_ —we could never be mad!”

“You just told me you’re angry at me.”

“I’m angry because you’re not taking care of yourself and you’re acting like we’re wrong for caring about you! And because you’re still being so stubborn and proud and not doing all the good you _can_ do!” She hugged her even harder, so tightly her body began to shake with the force. “Rose, you are such a good person. You deserve to live...you know you do. Don’t think you should die.”

Kanaya leaned in to tap a kiss to Rose’s forehead. “You’re trying to atone, but you can’t do that if you keep doing wrong by yourself. Let us help you—and help us. There has to be more to your life than getting revenge on Noir. This—this rebellion with Feferi and Karkat and the others—is what we should do. I know it is.”

“But—”

“We won’t give up on killing Noir. But there has to be more to living than getting revenge on him, and this is it. Jade’s right, darling. You are a good person, and you should do more than obsess over the demon.” She kissed her forehead again. “Please, Rose.”

They were silent and still for a long time. When the moment was broken, it was with the sound of Rose’s breath starting to shake. She began to tremble. By the time she started to cry in earnest, Kanaya had wrapped her arms around her and brought her close. Clutching to Kanaya’s blouse, feeling Jade against her back, Rose wept. Eventually, she nodded.

\-------

Karkat sat at the head of the table with his arms crossed, his feet thrown up on the tabletop, Terezi on his left, and Feferi sitting at his right. Eridan entered at the tail end of the group, and his mouth fell open at the sight.

“You fuckin’ gutterblood mutant freak!” he snarled. “What the fuck are you doin’ there?”

Karkat sneered a smile at him. “I’m sitting where I should as the leader of the rebellion, asshole.”

Eridan sputtered, eyes bulging with fury. He went for the rifle strapped to his back, but Feferi held up a hand.

“I want him to sit there,” she said. “Sit down, everyone.”

They did as they were told: Dave and Jade went to sit at Terezi’s side; Eridan and Vriska sat beside Feferi. When she went to sit next to Jade, Karkat caught Rose’s eye and pointed to the other end of the table. She sat, and Kanaya and John sat at her left and right respectively. After they were settled, Karkat took his feet from the table and sat forward.

“Okay, nooklickers,” he said. “I’m calling this war meeting to order.”

“ _War_ meetin’?” Eridan snapped. “Who said you could call for war?”

“I said so,” Karkat replied. “Rebel leader, remember? Keep up, you idiot.”

Eridan bristled, but Feferi gave him a stern look. He opened his mouth to protest; she shook her head. He sat back with an angry huff and yelped when Vriska elbowed him hard in the side.

“Very funny, Serket, really,” Karkat said, “but knock it off. We’ve got serious business to discuss.” He looked to Feferi. “What do you want out of the alchemists?”

“Their help in the rebellion.”

“ _Specifically_ , Peixes. That’s important.”

She met his gaze steadily. “I want the power of the Green Sun. But you know that.”

“I do, which is why I made you bring everyone here.” He stood up and began to pace at a steady speed, hands held in loose fists at his sides. “We’re here to set down all of our conditions. Conditions for victory and conditions for working together. The first is one Peixes and I already talked about—me being her general when we beat the Condesce. Shut up,” he said when Eridan opened his mouth. “We already swore a blood oath on it and I don’t want to hear a single fucking word about it from you.”

He turned to grab Feferi’s arm with both hands. “Fef, you made a blood oath with _him_?”

“Eridan, shh!” She shook his hands off and said, “Yes, I did! Now we need to listen.”

“So shut your windhole and stop interrupting me,” Karkat grumbled. “I’m still pissed at you for shooting at my moirail.” He cleared his throat and continued to pace. “So I want this rebellion to succeed. You want the alchemists’ power. I’m willing to work with you and let them figure out some way to power the warships. But before we do all that, I have one other condition to set.” He stopped pacing, set his hands on the table, and looked at Feferi and Eridan. “You help us kill Jack Noir.”

“What, you’re not going to tell _meeeeeeee_ to help you?” Vriska asked. “Or little miss legislacerator over there?”

Terezi cackled. “I was working to bring Noir to justice ever since my coolkid told me his sob story.”

Karkat grimaced, but said, “She’s pledged herself to the cause. And I’m pretty sure you’re going to be following Egbert wherever he goes. You don’t want Noir to cut his head off, right?”

“Karkat, we know the only thing that can kill Noir is alchemy,” John said. “I don’t want to put Vriska in danger if her attacks won’t work.”

“She won’t help if she just shows him her stabs, but that set of dice she has _did_ do something,” Karkat said with a smirk. “They get him off balance at least, but I think they hurt him a little. Not as much as alchemy, yeah, but we’ll take what we can get.” He looked at Feferi. “That’s my condition, Peixes, take it or leave it.”

Feferi looked first to Jade and then to Rose. “You agree with him?”

“It’s fair, isn’t it?” Jade asked. “And anyway, there’s no way we’ll really succeed in the rebellion if we have Noir out there waiting to attack us.”

Eridan scoffed. “Why would the demon give a shit about _you_ freaks?”

“Because he’s promised to torment us before he kills us,” Rose murmured.

He raised a brow, lips twitching into a sneer. “Talk louder. I can’t hear you.”

“For better or worse, this is about the loudest I can speak anymore,” she replied. “I’m afraid you’ll have to _listen_ for the first time in your life.”

“Now see here, you impudent fuckin’—”

Kanaya sat forward and glared at him, scowling to show her fangs. He returned the scowl for a few brief moments, but another elbow from Vriska made him look at the table with a pout.

Rose glanced at Kanaya with a lifted brow, but turned to the others to speak. “We have to find Noir. If we don’t kill him, he’s going to ruin our efforts—and it’ll only get worse from now on.”

“What do you mean?” Feferi asked.

“He dusted on us weird back in the desert,” Dave said. “Teleported away. He was doin’ that kinda thing durin’ the fight, too—flashin’ into some warp space to dodge our attacks. Twenty boonbucks says it’s the same place we send our catalysts when we’re not usin’ ‘em.”

“And he talked to us last time,” John said. “He’s never talked before, so that means something is different about him.”

“So?” Eridan grunted.

“So he’s evolving,” Jade replied. “He’s gotten new powers and basically gained sentience. He’s been chaotic and random until now, but I think he _wants_ to find us.”

“There’s no thinking about it,” Rose said. “He wants us to suffer. He said this to my face after killing Kanaya.”

“And _hoooooooow_ are we supposed to find him?” Vriska asked.

Silence. John drummed his fingers on the table; Jade tapped her thumbs together; and Rose and Dave stared at the table with their arms crossed.

Eridan lifted a brow; his sneer returned. “You don’t fuckin’ know.”

“Well,” Jade said slowly, scratching the back of her neck, “other than the whole wanting to torture us thing, we don’t know why he came to find us before—or _how_. The only reason we ever know he’s _going_ to show up is because our catalysts react to his presence. We don’t have a way to track him...we’ve just gone on rumors to _try_ to track him.”

Eridan’s eyes slowly widened. He sat back in his chair, leaving his hands on the table to tap his fingernails noisily. “You stupid bulge-eaters really got no idea how he found you?” He looked about the table and found no gazes to meet his own. He shot to his feet, throwing his hands in the air. “It’s the simplest fuckin’ thing in the universe, and you’re a bunch a dumbasses who’ve got their thinkpans stuck in their nooks who can’t figure it out!”

A growl began to build in Kanaya’s chest.

He ignored her in favor of saying, “He got news a you idiots the same way everyone else did! Freak brigandrifts, freak brigandrifts, freak fuckin’ brigandrifts—you’re the only Gog damned thing anyone’s talkin’ about lately! If he really wants to hurt you and he’s got half a thinkpan to his demon skull, then all he’s gotta do is listen in to a highblood talkin’ about you and learn you’re here!”

“Then what do you suggest?” Kanaya snapped. “That we parade Rose and the others out in the open for all to see in the hopes that news will get back to Noir?”

“That’s exactly what I’m sayin’! If it actually gets us the demon, why not?”

She began to stand, rising slowly. “Rose had to escape a subjugglator once before, thanks in no little part to your stupidity. Now you want me to put her—and _all_ of us—in danger in the hopes that Noir will come after her?”

He smirked. “No guts, no glory.”

Vriska laughed aloud and leaned back in her chair to slap Eridan hard across the rear. “I knew there’s a reason you’re my kismesis!”

Kanaya opened her mouth, but Rose reached out to grasp her wrist in time with Karkat lifting his hand for quiet. He moved to stand at the head of the table again, looking Eridan up and down. After a time, he smirked.

“Okay, fish-face,” said Karkat. “We try it your way. Go find us a demon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was just terribly difficult, but it all needed to be put out there.


	16. The Last Edge of the Frontier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You readers are absolutely glorious people, and I am pleased to finally bring you the last chapter of Frontierstuck.
> 
> Do enjoy!

Every day, the humans met in Jade’s room, arraigned their chairs in a circle, and sat together to talk. The meetings had started with the intention of discussing Noir, but the topic almost never came up. They chatted without focus and looped back and around in their conversations. Jade and John made it a goal to have Rose and Dave laugh at least once every day; Rose was always made to talk in the hope of recovering more of her voice.

Over the course of two weeks, however, they had grown quieter and quieter. That day, they sat in a heavy silence; they did not meet each other’s eyes. Jade was ramrod straight, hands folded in her lap; Dave slumped with his legs spread and his hands clutching the chair’s arms; John leaned forward with his elbows on his knees; and Rose was curled up with her legs to her chest. When the silence was broken, the voice that spoke was still quiet and heavy.

“You guys really think we can off Noir?” Dave asked.

The silence resumed immediately, and the others did not look at him. They fidgeted in their own ways: John flicked his thumbs against his palms; Jade twisted her fingers over each other; and Rose curled up tighter. Dave twisted the heel of one foot against the floor, swinging his foot back and forth.

“Well?” he said. “D’you guys really think we can kill him?”

“There’s no reason we can’t,” Rose replied. “He was badly wounded in our last fight.”

“But it don’t _feel_ like it,” Dave shot back. “Every day that fish-face asshole comes back with no news about Noir, the more it feels like he’s going to heal up and come back just as strong as before. And he still had enough fight in him at the end to bump off your moll. Down an arm and an eye, and he still got her.” He shifted, bringing a hand up to scratch at his chin. “It makes me nervous.”

John smiled. “We’ll be okay! As long as we stick together and stay on our guard, we can kill him!” He sat up straight, holding his arms up and out. “Just think about it! A life without Noir!”

Jade shifted. Shaking the stiffness from her shoulders, she smiled. “Won’t it be nice to just study alchemy without thinking about how to use it against Noir?”

“I can’t wait to help Karkat and Miss Feferi and everyone!” John said, his smile becoming a grin. “It’ll be a great adventure! Maybe we’ll even go into space! That’d be amazing!”

Dave snorted. “You just want to be a pirate in space.”

“What’s wrong with that?” John asked. “Maybe I’d help stop the slave trade if I get to be an awesome pirate in space! Everyone would listen to someone who got all the way to the stars, right?”

“The stars ain’t gonna help anyone if we don’t survive the fight.”

“We can’t go into the fight thinking we’ll lose,” Rose said. “We might hesitate if we don’t have the conviction, and hesitating _will_ get us killed.”

“ _You_ havin’ conviction got you possessed by monster gods,” Dave muttered. “You sure going all out is a good idea for you?”

“I haven’t had a single nightmare since arriving here,” she replied. “Two entire weeks without them when I used to have them every night. I don’t hear the Gods, brother. I don’t think I will anymore.”

He tipped his head forward to let his sunglasses slip down his nose, but paused. He took the glasses off completely, folding them shut and holding them in one hand. He sat up to put his elbows on his knees.

“You gotta swear that you’re never going to let yourself get stolen again, sister,” he said, voice quiet. “You do it again and _I’m_ the one comin’ after you—and I sure as fuck won’t be as sweet about it as Kanaya. You scare me like that—you fuckin’ break my heart like that again—and I will drag you back and kick your ass so hard it’ll be like fire and brimstone and the Lord’s second coming. You understand?”

She looked at her knees, but murmured, “I understand.”

“Good, ‘cause I think the Egbert and Harley duo would be right behind me to make sure I get you for your beating.”

“We wouldn’t _beat_ her, Dave!” John said, chuckling. “We’d just get her back!” When his chuckling died down, he turned to look at Rose. His smile genuine, he said, “You promise, right? You’re not going to do anything stupid involving the Gods.”

Arms tucked behind her legs, she put her hands on her forearms and rubbed idly. “I won’t.”

Jade, sitting at her right, frowned. She leaned over and caught Rose’s elbow. When she pulled, she caught sight of where Rose’s hands had been: atop the sigils. She looked up and shook Rose’s elbow until her gaze was met. “What were you thinking?”

“Nothing.”

“Rose Lalonde, don’t you dare lie to me. Why were you touching these?”

Silence. Slowly, she looked down at her arm. She opened her hand and stared at the mark in her palm. “I was thinking about what I did.”

“And how you’re never going to do it again, right?” Dave asked.

Silence.

“ _Right_?”

“Not for the same reason.”

Jade let go of Rose’s elbow and brought her other hand up to fold both around Rose’s. “You can’t ever use that formula again. You have to promise us.” She tightened her grip. “Don’t try to bring any of us back if we die.”

“That’s not what I was thinking of,” Rose said. “I was thinking of how I could use it constructively.”

“The Gods still want you as their speaker, sis,” Dave said. “You use that formula and you’re serving yourself up on a fuckin’ platter made of the finest silver.”

“It’s not me I want to serve to them. It’s Noir.”

They all went silent. For a moment, Jade’s grip on Rose’s hand faltered and loosened. Shaking her head, she squeezed Rose’s hand even tighter than before.

“Rosie,” she said, voice firm, “that’d be suicide. There’s no way.”

“Why not?”

Jade frowned, brows furrowing. “Even if you got him into a place big enough to make a transmutation circle, you’d never have the time to make one—not with everything you need to have. And then if you _did_ the alchemy, you’d be going back to where the Gods are. You’re not fast enough to do all of that and then escape from them!”

“But Kanaya is.”

“What’s Miss Kanaya got to do with it?” John asked.

Rose gently pulled her hand free. Straightening her legs, she undid the first two buttons on her shirt. As she sat forward, she opened her shirt enough to show the sigil on her chest. She pushed up her sleeves and held out her hands, palms up. “The reason I drew these on myself was to circumvent painting the entire formula. Back then, it was because I didn’t want to use up all of Kanaya’s blood, and it would have been too much of my own blood to paint it. But now that these are permanently on me, all I would have to do is make the base transmutation circle in advance and get Noir in it.”

“That doesn’t explain what Kanaya has to do with it,” Jade said.

“Now that she’s a rainbow drinker, she’s faster than any of us, and she’s probably physically strong enough to go up against Noir. Since she has the same sigils scarred onto her, I have someone who can not only get him into the circle, but also help me perform the alchemy without needing to make any new sigils. I need _someone’s_ help to get him to the Gods. And because she went to find me, she knows how to escape to the dream bubbles.”

“But why do you have to off him that way?” Dave asked. “Why can’t we just stab him through his devil dog skull?”

“We don’t actually know if it’s possible to kill him completely just through physical means. Like you said before, he was still able to—to...” She swallowed hard. “—k-kill Kanaya after losing an eye and an arm. He was created by the leftover traces of the alchemy that brought us here—fallout tainted by the energies of the Elder Gods. I think the only way to completely undo him is to send him back to the Gods.”

“And you want to be the one to do that,” Jade said, voice quiet.

“I hope to get Kanaya’s help as well.”

“Why not ours?” Dave snapped.

Rose turned to look at him. His gaze was hard; his jaw was set with how fiercely he clenched his teeth. When he spoke, his voice was sharp and strained.

“Why the fuck wouldn’t you ask _us_ to help you with this?” he said.

“I don’t want to put you in danger.”

“By fuckin’ putting _yourself_ in danger?” he shouted. “How many Goddamn times do we have to tell you that you’re not the only one responsible for Noir? Let us _help_ you!”

“It’ll be easier for just two people to escape from the Gods after bringing Noir to them,” she said, looking away.

“Fine,” he snarled. “I’ll be the one to help you.” He dropped his sunglasses in his lap and shoved his sleeves up his arms. After undoing the first three buttons on his shirt, he summoned his sword and put it up against his throat.

Rose shot out of her chair and grabbed his hands to try to wrestle the sword away. “Dave, no— _stop_!”

He stood up in a rush, pushing her back as he went. He pulled the sword from her grasp, stabbed it into the floor, and grabbed her shoulders. “ _No_ , Rose! You _swore_ to me that you wouldn’t do this kinda stupid shit just a few minutes ago, and now you’re telling me that you’re gonna do it anyway! You _know_ you’re gonna get Kanaya’s help, and you _know_ you’d get ours! You want to make sure Noir dies for sure? Then you fuckin’ let _all_ of us help!”

When she only stared at him, eyes wide and lips parted, he sighed. He lowered his voice and said, “We’re doin’ this, sister, whether you like it or not.” He gave her a small smile. “For God’s sake, Lalonde, stop bein’ noble and let me take care of my little sister for once.”

“And my little sister, too!” said John.

“Shut your yapper, Egbert, I’m talkin’ about _my_ sis.”

“I am, too!” He took to his feet and went to their side. Slinging an arm around their shoulders, he said, “Rosie’s my sister just as much as Jade! We’re all family so we have to look out for each other!”

Jade got out of her chair and moved to their other side. Like John, she put her arms around them, hugging them at the waist. “And that means we’re _all_ going to send Noir to the Gods.” She leaned slightly to hug Rose tighter. “Okay?”

Silence.

“Rosie, say yes or I’ll hit you again.”

A small chuckle left her mouth. “All right, fine. We destroy Noir together.”

Laughing, Jade took her arm from Dave to hug Rose as hard as possible.

Dave snorted loudly, but there was a smile on his face. “Jesus wept, Harley, are you tryin’ to bust her ribs by bein’ a big baby needin’ hugs?”

With her face pressed against Rose’s shoulder, Jade’s voice was muffled when she sad, “You’re more than free to join us, mister cool mobster!”

“It’s _caporegime_ , doll face,” he chuckled, “but fine.” He stepped in to hug the both of them. The moment his arms were around them, he was slammed into from behind and the air in his lungs left him in a rush. “Egbert, for the love of—”

John laughed to cut him off and squeezed them hard. “This is the first time in years I’ve been able to get all of you in one big hug! I can’t help it! And I think Rosie likes being in the middle just fine!” He squeezed one last time before releasing them and stepping back. He rolled up his sleeves and undid two buttons on his shirt. “Okay, Rosie, you’ll have to help me with this. I don’t know the sigils as well as you do.”

She looked at him when Dave and Jade stepped away, hesitance clear in the hunch of her shoulders. Anxiety came to her face when Jade pushed up her own sleeves and opened her shirt enough to bare the top of her chest.

“If we do this,” she said quietly, “then you’ll all have these marks on you forever. They’re too complex to repaint every day—and if I use alchemy to put them into your skin, there’s no reversing it.”

Dave raised an eyebrow at her. “So? It’ll be like a tattoo. You’re actin’ like I don’t have a few of those already.”

“It’ll hurt.”

“Yeah, that’s normal for tattoos,” he replied. “Look, we’re all ready for this, so get on with it, would ya?”

She opened her mouth to protest, but sighed. She summoned one of her needles and gestured to the chairs. When they had sat back down, she went to Dave. With a murmured apology and a quick flick of the needle, she cut a line on the side of his neck. He did not react beyond tilting his head; he remained quiet when she coated her fingers in his blood. As she began to paint the sigil on his chest, he went completely still.

“Are we going to use our own blood or just Dave’s?” John asked.

Jade spoke before Rose had a chance. “Ours. The sigils will connect best if they’re painted using materials from the bodies they’re on.”

“Correct,” Rose said absently. She returned her hands to the cut on Dave’s neck to refresh the blood and moved to his arms.

“Sorry, Egbert,” Dave said. “You still get cut.”

“I’m not complaining!” John said. “I just don’t know as much about alchemy involving the body as the girls do!”

Jade giggled. “You’re more about breaking stuff.”

“Hey, I make stuff, too! I just have so much mangrit in me that I’m more skilled as disassembling matter.”

“You’re fine, John,” Rose said. She finished the last marks in Dave’s palms and took her hands away to wipe them clean on her jeans. Looking at his eyes, she said, “Are you ready?”

“Fry me, sis.”

She put her hands flat on his chest, touching her thumb to either edge of the circle. Sparks shot along the blood, searing his chest before leaping down his arms to the sigils there. Dave grit his teeth when the lightning touched his palms, but kept his hands open. The electricity ceased when Rose took her hands away; the sigils steamed faintly.

“Well?” Rose said.

“Well _what_ , sis?” Dave replied. “It hurt like a bitch, but my heart hasn’t stopped if you’re worried about it.”

She smiled slightly. “Feel like you can send people into the loving tentacles of the Elder Gods?”

“Can we try it on fish-face?”

She gently punched his shoulder before moving to John. He sat up straighter on her approach and fidgeted until she sighed and tweaked his nose. He stilled as she cut his neck, his breathing stuttering to a halt. He shivered at the warm smear of the blood painted on his chest and winced at the feel of it in his hands. When she cleaned her hands and looked at him, he swallowed once and nodded. A choked noise left him at the burn of the lightning, but he did not break away. Once the electricity vanished, he let out a brief groan.

“You weren’t lying about it hurting,” he muttered. He brought his hand to his chest and touched the sigil gingerly.

Rose turned toward Jade. She did not move; anxiety had come back to her face. Her mouth barely opened for an attempt at speech before she closed it again.

Jade sighed loudly through her nose. “Just come here and do it. You’re such a worrywart.”

With a begrudging smile on her face, she walked to stand before Jade’s chair. Jade smiled back at her and, pulling aside her hair, tilted her head to present her neck. She inhaled sharply at the cut but remained still. She waited through the painting of the sigil on her chest and offered up her arms when Rose needed them. Her fingers twitched at the touch bringing blood to her palms, but she did not pull away. She closed her eyes as Rose put her trembling hands to her chest. She nodded firmly; Rose set off the lightning. Her face tightened in pain and she let out a whimper, but she remained as still as John and Dave before her. A heavy sigh left her when Rose pulled back, and she opened her eyes to look at her arms.

“It’ll—the pain won’t last,” Rose said. “I’m sorry.”

Jade looked up to give her a smile. “It’s okay! We’re the ones who told you to do it, after all.”

Dave flexed his hands, straightening his fingers to stretch the palms. “Okay, so we’re all set to go kill Noir and send his demon soul back to the monster gods. Where’re we puttin’ the transmutation circle?”

“I don’t know,” Rose said. “I was hoping to get John’s input.”

John blinked, sitting back. He pointed at himself. “Wha—mine? Why mine?”

“You’re the one with more experience leading others,” Rose said. “You’re the one who was first mate on a gamblignant ship, and you know more than us about leading large groups in battle. I defer to you here.”

He blinked again, brows rising, and went quiet. He looked at the ground and slowly sat forward to put his elbows on his knees. He lifted a hand to his chin as his brows came together. “Leading everyone, huh?” He looked up to her and smiled. “That’s a lot of pressure to dump on a guy, Rosie.”

“I trust you,” she said, “and I’m sure everyone else does, too.”

He drew a deep breath and let it out in a humming sigh. “Well, if you guys want me to be the leader, I need to start making plans.” He stood up, cracking his knuckles as he went. “I’m gonna go find Vriska and Karkat. Vriska’s been a captain longer than I’ve been a first mate, and I think Karkat would be cranky if we didn’t let him in on a big plan like this.”

Dave pushed himself out of his chair and plucked his sword from the floor. Banishing it, he said, “Come up with something good. I want Noir out of our lives once and for all.”

John laughed and slapped Dave on the back, knocking the breath out of him. “Don’t worry! I’ve got a few good ideas already!” He turned to Rose and said, “For right now, why don’t you head back to your room? You should rest up as much as you can, since we don’t know when Eridan’s gonna come back with some important news.”

She lifted a brow. “Are we coddling me now?”

He held his thumb and forefinger close together. “A little. Just until we kill Noir for good.”

“Then you can go back to being your usual snarky broad self,” Dave said.

She sighed, but a smile curled her lips. “All right, fine. I’ll acquiesce.” She yelped when John grabbed her under the arms and lifted her off the ground. “Egbert, what in the hell are you doing?”

He grinned as he walked to the door and carried her along. “Making sure you actually head on back to your room! You’d probably just stay in here with Jade and talk if we didn’t make sure you left!” He set her down gently and opened the door. Slipping past her, lifting a hand in parting, he said, “Say hi to Miss Kanaya for me!”

Dave only patted Rose on the shoulder when he left, but Jade gave her a quick hug before pushing her along. She went in the opposite direction as Dave and John, walking down the long hallway toward the rest of the private rooms with her sock-covered heels padding faintly on the tiled floor. The hive manor was enormous; the wide, tall hallways made it feel like a deserted castle when it was quiet. Though it was just as quiet in her room when she opened the door, the glow inside kept the emptiness at bay.

Kanaya was stretched out on the couch, now sized for two, hands draped over the book in her lap. Her shoulders rose and fell in steady breathing. Rose closed the door gently and walked over as quietly as she could. She sat down and worked the book free from Kanaya’s hands. When she remained still with slumber, Rose lifted a hand to comb her fingers through her hair.

With a deep breath and a stretching shift of her body, Kanaya opened her eyes. She blinked slowly until catching sight of the gray hand near her face. Upon seeing Rose sitting beside her, she smiled. She caught hold of Rose’s hand and brought it to her lips to kiss her knuckles.

“I think this is the first time I’ve found you sleeping in the last two weeks,” Rose murmured. “But I guess I wasn’t really able to tell if you were sleeping when we first arrived.”

“I’ve been sleeping,” Kanaya replied. “Just not nearly as much as you.” She sat up slightly, shifting to lean against the back of the couch. She held out her arms and pulled Rose to her when she moved close enough. Pressing a kiss to Rose’s hair, she said, “I’m glad your dreams have been calm since we brought you back.”

“So am I.”

She let out a long sigh of a breath and settled Rose more firmly against herself. She began to pet her hair. “Did you finally tell the others about the plan you were thinking of?”

“I did.”

“Are you finally going to tell _me_ what it is?”

Rose drew her legs up and curled around Kanaya. “Sending Noir to the Elder Gods using the resurrection formula. Now all of them have the sigils on their bodies like you and I do.”

“Ah.”

“Kanaya.”

“Hmm?”

“Do you realize you’ve started stroking my neck?”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“That depends.”

“On?”

“It depends on if you’re doing it because, as your voice suggests, you’re still drowsy from your interrupted sleep, or if you’re doing it because you’re trying to make me relax because you’re hungry.”

Silence. Her hand went still.

“That’s why you’re tired enough for me to catch you sleeping, isn’t it?” She took a deep breath and murmured, “It’s all right. You can take some of my blood.”

Kanaya began to draw her hands back. “I can’t ask that of you.”

Rose caught her hands and held fast. “Yes, you can. I don’t want you to be hungry like this.”

“When we may be on the verge of fighting Noir?”

“At all.” She brought one of Kanaya’s hands back to her neck, laying it over where her pulse could be easily felt. “You know I was there when Feferi said you’d need blood. I didn’t run away when I heard that. I just started waiting for you to ask for this.” She smiled gently. “But I guess I should have known that you wouldn’t ask for it, regardless of heightened aggression.”

A long pause came before she sighed. She took her other hand from Rose’s grasp and set it on her cheek. “You’re certain this is fine?”

“I’m not going to repeat myself much more, Kanaya. Go ahead.”

Her lips curled in a small, tired smile. She brought her hand up from Rose’s neck to rest it on her other cheek. “Look at my eyes.”

Rose smirked. “Are you actually going to use vampiric hypnotism on me?”

“I have no idea what ‘vampiric’ means, but rainbow drinkers are able to relax their—donors through certain methods.”

“Cunning word choice.”

“Just relax, keep your eyes open, and focus on me.”

Rose sighed, but did as she was told. Kanaya held her gaze steadily, eyes open completely. She stroked Rose’s cheeks gently with her thumbs. Rose blinked once, head tipping back. When she blinked again, her head rocked forward on its own. A faint, deep crooning welled up from Kanaya’s chest, and Rose’s shoulders slackened at the sound. She breathed slower and slower; her muscles relaxed bit by bit. The crooning gained a soft, meandering tune, and Rose’s eyelids flickered with the beat of it. When Kanaya tilted her head to one side, she was nearly limp; when Kanaya pressed her fangs into the flesh of her neck, she barely flinched.

At the first pulse of blood on her tongue, Kanaya began to purr. She drank carefully; she suckled gingerly. She let the blood seep into her mouth and swallowed without taking her fangs from Rose’s throat. After three half mouthfuls, she pulled herself away, remaining close enough to lap at the wounds to soothe their sting as they closed. She sat back, and her tongue flicked out naturally to catch an errant drop of blood from the tip of one fang.

Rose swayed where she sat a moment before slumping over Kanaya’s legs. Kanaya, eyes wide, caught her by the shoulders before she could hit the back of the couch.

“Rose?” she said. “Rose darling? Are you all right? I’m sorry—I took too much, I didn’t mean to—”

Rose patted one of her hands and gave her a weary, unfocused smile. “I’m fine. But that’s a very...strange sensation.”

“You’re certain you’re all right?”

“I’m _fine_. I’m just tired now. I already told you to not worry.” She leaned into Kanaya’s hands. “Just...hold me right now.”

“Hardly a difficult request to fulfill.” She moved them about, settling when she sat against the back of the couch with Rose in her lap. One hand moved to Rose’s neck to press fingertips to the wounds, and the other arm wrapped around her. “I think the tiredness will pass soon. I did my best to take only a little, but I may have guessed wrong on what ‘a little’ is for humans.”

Rose shushed her with hushes of breath between her teeth. “It’s all right. Do you feel less hungry now?”

“I do. Thank you.”

She hummed sleepily and let her head rock to one side to rest on Kanaya’s shoulder. For a time, she was silent; even her steady breathing was too soft to be heard. She brought her legs up to curl around Kanaya as best she could and nuzzled her head against her shoulder. Her silence broke only when Kanaya’s hand left her throat in favor of rubbing her back, and it was with a low sigh.

Voice barely audible, words slurred with exhaustion, she said, “Kanaya?”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t want you to die.”

Kanaya blinked and looked down. “I don’t intend to.”

“I don’t want anyone to die.”

“Darling, what are you talking about?”

“Noir. I don’t want anyone to die. I don’t want them to get killed.”

A long sigh left her. “I _have_ taken too much. You’re rambling, darling. Everything’s going to be all right. You don’t have to worry about us. We’re not going to die.”

She took Kanaya’s shirt in hand, holding tight. “I don’t want to die.”

She pulled Rose even closer and kissed her hair. “We won’t let him kill you. I won’t let anyone hurt you like that.”

“I want to keep living. I want to be able to wear that dress you’re making for me.”

A moment passed where she was silent. Surprised laughter tumbled out of her mouth. “Have you been watching me work?”

She nodded against her neck.

“Oh, darling,” she laughed. She tilted her head to kiss Rose’s forehead. “You will. You’re the one who’s been saying there’s no reason we can’t kill Noir. We’ll be all right.”

“Do you promise?”

She almost chuckled again. She felt how tightly Rose’s hands gripped her shirt and stopped short. Kissing Rose’s head once more, she wrapped her up tighter in her arms. “I promise.”

\-------

Maplehoof was restless. As Rose guided her through the streets, she snorted and tossed her head from side to side. More than once, Rose was forced to pull back on the reins and make the horse stand still a moment. Her gray hands were stark against Maplehoof’s mane when she stroked it to soothe her. When she tapped her heels to Maplehoof’s sides to urge her forward, she always spoke softly to give her more directions.

Trolls murmured as they went by. Lowbloods all, dark green at the highest, they never looked her in the eye, but she caught sight of them staring sidelong. Every so often, she heard someone hiss “ain’t that one a them freak brigandrifts?” and fought the urge to reply. Only once did someone try to stop her, but Rose kicked him on instinct when he went for Maplehoof’s reins. The murmuring grew quieter after that, but the sidelong glances became direct stares.

It was pitch dark above; clouds sat low and thick in the sky. A lazy, steady rain flowed out of the clouds and droned in the background. Despite the muttering around her, there was no ambient city buzz to be heard. Maplehoof’s hooves clopped noisily on the pavement; her anxious noises were loud to the point of grating on Rose’s already fraying nerves. When she rounded a corner and saw Eridan standing at his post in the center of a wide, empty avenue, it was something of a relief to see him. He spun at the sound of hooves, rifle raised immediately. He held off on firing, though, and jerked his chin in a nod before lowering the rifle.

“No signs of him here?” Rose asked.

“Not a fuckin’ whisper,” he replied. “Or is it a woof with this thing?”

“Whisper is accurate, now that he’s capable of speech.” She stood up in the saddle slightly, looking about. “You’re sure there’s no sign of him anywhere?”

“Hey, did you see any a those stupid signal shots your giant human came up with? No? Then there ain’t been any fuckin’ signs a him.” He snorted. “Still can’t believe him and Vris came up with this stupid plan. Yeah, stick you freak lowbloods around the city all by yourselves. _That’s_ not askin’ for the demon to just come up and kill you all one by one. Or hunters, for that fuckin’ matter.”

She sat down and looked at him with a hard eye. “How much have you told other highbloods about us?”

He sneered at her. “I’m not betrayin’ anyone, if that’s what you’re thinkin’. All I did was say the freak brigandrifts are still in the city. No where or when or about _you_ bein’ as much of a monster as the demon.” He smirked and chuckled. “Not to mention your matesprit.”

“Why are you trying to make me angry right now?”

“Vris said you’re fuckin’ hot when you’re pissed.”

“Remind me to thank her as violently as I can when we’re done with this.” She paused and shook her head. “On second thought, she’d probably like that. In any case, I agree with John’s plan. It’s better to have everyone spread out. We can run more freely if we’re not trying to defend anyone else.”

“You still gotta get back to that circle thing you made in the middle of the city. You think you can get _there_ from way out _here_ without gettin’ your neck cut?”

“Maplehoof may not be a race horse, but she’s fast. I’m confident in her.”

He scoffed and said, “You better be. Fef’s got a lot ridin’ on your freak ass, and I don’t want my moirail gettin’ disappointed ‘cause a some slow hoofbeast.”

“Now is honestly not the time for awkward black flirting,” Rose said with a sigh. “I’ll cut you a deal. If you stop, I’ll pretend to entertain these come-ons after Noir is dead.”

Eridan considered it with his head faintly tilted and his eyes turned upward. After a moment, he nodded and said, “Deal.” He hesitated, lips curling in a new sneer. “I’m not makin’ any oaths with you, lowblood.”

“Like I would make an actual oath with the idiot who tried— _repeatedly_ —to kill Kanaya. Just do me one favor right now, Ampora.”

“What?”

“Shut up.”

“But it’s so fucking _boring_!” he said, voice pitching high with whining. “You’re the only person that comes near me in this whole stupid arrangement, and I’ve been standin’ here for _hours_ waitin’ for stuff to start!”

She opened her mouth to fire back a retort, but the intended sentence died on her tongue. “Wait—‘ _start_ ’? What do you mean by ‘start’?” Her hands tightened on the reins. “You said you _didn’t_ betray us.”

“I _didn’t_ , you paranoid freak.” He jerked his chin up, looking into the sky. “You’re tellin’ me you don’t feel that?”

“Forgive me for not being as connected with nature as you, but feel _what_?”

“There’s murder in the air, Ros,” he murmured. “People are gonna die today.”

“I’m sorry if this disappoints you, but I have no intention of letting anyone die any time soon.”

A horn honked above them.

Eridan turned his gaze from the sky to the rooftops and found Gamzee standing on a ledge not ten feet overhead. In his left hand was his horn; he fondled it lovingly. In his right hand was his club; congealing yellow-green blood oozed and dripped from it. He grinned widely, head swaying from side to side, and stepped off the rooftop. He strode toward them, arms swinging.

“Hey there, my fishy brother,” he said gently. “I heard that you’ve been hangin’ around lowbloods the last few days. It’s a motherfuckin’ miracle that you’re really down here.”

“Gam,” Eridan replied, crossing his arms. “What do you want?”

“I want to know what the fuck that little demon witch is still doing alive!” Gamzee screamed, spittle flying from his fangs.

Without turning his head, Eridan looked at Rose. She sat stock-still in the saddle, eyes wide and lips parted. Maplehoof chuffed and danced anxiously in place. Sighing loudly, Eridan moved in and caught hold of the reins. As he pulled the horse into stillness, he said, “I bought her.”

Gamzee’s head tilted and his chin lifted. He looked them up and down, and his voice dropped into a low rumble. “You bought her?”

“Yeah,” he said with a lazy shrug. “What’s it to you?”

“You let me _have_ her before, sea dweller!” Gamzee roared. “What the fuck are you doing buying a heretic you gave up to my graces?”

“It’s not my problem about how she got away from your, ah, ‘graces’ before, Gam.” He sighed wearily. “Let’s go, little freak. I have things I want cleaned.” He tugged at the reins, but Rose did not let him pull them away. He sneered at her and reached up to grab her by the wrist. “I said, _let’s go_.”

The fury in Gamzee’s face slithered into sharp glee. He drew closer to them, feet shuffling slow and quiet over the pavement. He chuckled and said, “Looks like your pet doesn’t want to clean your sea-salt coated shit, brother. Looks like you’re scaring her. Maybe what she really wants is to see a miracle.”

“We don’t have any fuckin’ time for your miracle shit tonight, Gam,” Eridan snapped. He drew himself up to his full height, throwing back his shoulders, but he was still left looking up toward Gamzee’s face and the growing smile there. “This is _my_ slave now, not one a your heretics, so if you try to take her away—”

“ _Then_ motherfucking what, Ampora?” Gamzee shrieked. He clamped his fingers down over the hand Eridan had around Rose’s wrist, the horn honking as his grip tightened, and grabbed hold of his collar with his other hand. The spikes of the club squealed as they moved against Eridan’s glasses. “Then _what_? Here’s the end of your story tonight! The lord highblood Eridan fucking Ampora gets his slave taken away from him and cries like a pathetic, powerless little wriggler! It’s the perfect joke!”

Eridan’s gills flared; his lips pulled back to show his neat needle fangs. “I _order_ you to let me go, land dweller. You’ve got no fuckin’ right to treat a sea dweller like this, indigo blood or not.”

The laugh that left Gamzee was giddy and soft, and he pulled Eridan up onto his toes as he leaned in. “Why the fuck is that, fish-shit? It’s not like you’re really someone _special_ with that magenta blood of yours. You’re just runnin’ around playin’ badass for the chick who wants to be empress.”

A flush of rich magenta flowed into his cheeks as rage twisted his face. “How _dare_ you! You take back what you said about Fef!”

“Or motherfucking _what_ , sea dweller?” he howled. “You’ll cull me? You’ll try to cull a servant of the messiahs? You’re already standin’ in my fuckin’ way by taking _my_ demon witch and not giving her up! I want her _blood_ , Ampora! If you don’t give her up, you’re just another blasphemous bastard!” He chuckled, and his voice dropped as he murmured, “And you know exactly what I do to blasphemous bastards.”

Rose slammed her foot into Gamzee’s face; the crunch of his nose breaking was audible over the rain. He let them go and stumbled back, bringing his hands to his face to catch the blood pouring from his nose. When he looked up at her, she was staring at him with wide, stunned eyes. Her foot dropped as her leg went limp. As the fury returned to his face, worse than before, she began to hyperventilate. She trembled violently and tried to curl in on herself.

Eridan vaulted onto Maplehoof’s back and shoved Rose forward in the saddle to drop behind her. He snatched hold of the reins and held on through Maplehoof’s rearing at the sudden weight on her back. When she dropped down, he snapped the reins and kicked his heels into her sides. With a wild whinny, she bolted away from Gamzee and galloped down the road.

“I can’t believe you fuckin’ _kicked_ him!” Eridan said with a laugh. “Good job, Ros!”

Rose said nothing, instead curling forward to hide her face in her hands. With his arms against his shoulders, Eridan could feel her shaking.

“Knock it off!” he barked. “We ain’t got time for you to go off the rails ‘cause a Gam!”

Lightning crackled in the clouds, skittering wildly here and there. At the first strike of the ground and the rolling thunderclap, Maplehoof whinnied again and reared back. Eridan brought her back down and goaded her on, weaving them through crowds and along streets. The rain began to fall harder as more lightning struck the city. The storm grew stronger rapidly, and trolls left the streets with equal speed. When Rose lifted her head, she started.

“St-stop!” she said.

“Why?”

“You’re taking us off John’s routes! Go back!”

“Fuck the routes,” he snapped. “You’re losin’ your shit ‘cause a Gam, and I don’t really feel like dealin’ with a freak who’s freaked. We’re scrubbin’ for today.”

“You’re the one who said there’s murder in the air!” she shouted in return. “If you’re right and Noir appears, I’m not going to be the one who’s not there! Take us back to the routes!”

“We don’t know how much intel Gam’s got on how we’re movin’! The routes are compromised now! We’re _scrubbin_ ’ today!”

Rose grabbed the reins and pulled them clean out of Eridan’s hands. Maplehoof snorted and tossed her head at the sudden change, and again when Rose bade her stop. Though Eridan opened his mouth to argue, he caught sight of the sky above and went silent.

The lightning had become a storm in its own right, lashing from cloud to cloud and to city below. Green was seeping into the white of the electricity, casting a sickly shade on the world. The Thorns of Oglogoth appeared in Rose’s hands, trapped between her palms and the reins. As they spat sparks of their own up Rose’s arms, a massive green bolt struck down in the distance to their left. Moments later, another bolt of green flew back into the sky. Upon reaching the clouds, the bolt exploded into bright blue starlight.

“Oh Christ,” Rose sad. “He’s by John.”

“By John?” said Eridan. His eyes widened. “Then he’s by _Vris_?”

As if to answer him, a new flash of blue appeared: a brief tower of blue flames.

“I know that fuckin’ fire!” he said. “He’s fightin’ Vris! He’s goin’ after _my_ kismesis!” He leaped from Maplehoof and drew his rifle the moment his feet touched the ground.

“What are you doing?”

“Goin’ after the demon’s that’s tryin’ to kill Vris! No one gets to kill her but _me_!”

“And what about scrubbing the day’s plans?”

“Fuck that, Ros! Get your ass down to the circle thing!” He cocked the rifle and gave her a sharp grin. “If the demon’s still alive after me and Vris are through with him, you’re gonna need to be ready for him.”

For a moment, she stared at him. Despite her shaking, she smirked and adjusted her grip on the needles and the reins. “Someone likes to play hero.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Not bad, just terribly amusing.” She pulled on the reins to turn Maplehoof to the side. “Don’t get yourself killed.”

“Right back at you, lowblood.” With a flick of his hand in parting, he dashed away. She watched him until he vanished down another street. Swallowing hard, she looked back. The rain pounded so hard on the roofs above they were blurry with mist. The lightning continued to lash out, striking the ground in the distance and jumping from cloud to cloud. She stared up at the rooftops; her shoulders still trembled. A bolt struck close enough for the thunderclap to be cacophonous, and Maplehoof whinnied loudly and reared. Barely managing to keep from falling, Rose brought Maplehoof down and rubbed her neck.

“Can’t wait forever,” she muttered. She forced the trembling to leave her hands and patted Maplehoof’s neck. “Ready to go?” Maplehoof nodded her head and looked back at Rose. She danced from side to side anxiously, and Rose chuckled.

“Well,” she said, “if you’re going to put your cowardice aside, I will, too.” She tightened her grip and sat up properly. Taking a deep breath dispelled the last of her shaking, and she clicked her tongue sharply and kicked her heels into Maplehoof’s sides. As they rushed onward, Rose heard an explosion, muffled though it was by the rain. Glancing away from the street let her see blue smoke just before the rain battered it to the ground. It was some distance from where the flames had been, moving toward the center of the city. She brought her attention back toward driving Maplehoof as fast as the roads would let them pass.

The storm was wicked enough to have driven almost every troll off the streets, and it was only narrow alleys that slowed them greatly. It was abruptly, then, that Rose forced Maplehoof to stop, and the horse protested with loud huffs and hard shakes of her head. Rose ignored her; she stood in the stirrups and twisted back and forth to cast her gaze about. Though the streetlamps were all aglow, she could not see the writing on the posts on the corners. Flicking a needle sent lightning to the nearest post, and the burst of light was enough to let her read the sign. The street name was one she only vaguely recalled from the maps John had set before them; she no longer knew where she was.

Rose felt her stomach drop into her feet. She fell back into the saddle and pulled Maplehoof around. Another shot lit up the next nearest sign, but the name was no more familiar than the one before it. Grimacing, she urged Maplehoof down another alleyway and flicked lightning at the first signpost she saw. Again, it was an unfamiliar name. She swore aloud and threw another bolt to the next sign. When she found yet another unknown street, she dismounted and shot lightning into the sidewalk. A staircase of stone grew from the street, tall enough to reach the lowest rooftop. She dashed up it and looked about once she was at the top.

A fire of deep crimson was eating at city blocks despite the rain. She squinted through the downpour and saw that at least one small building at been demolished, straight on from the fire and moving in a steady line inward. She followed the natural course of that line and spotted the empty space of the great plaza at the city’s center. She traced the streets leading from the plaza over and over until they were all but branded into her mind and ran back down the stone stairs.

The rain continued to torrent down; the lightning still flashed. She drove Maplehoof hard, winding around corners with fast tugs on the reins. Straight-aways were galloped down at top speed; the chill of the night and the rain made Maplehoof’s breath appear in great steaming clouds. The streets forced them to move on an angle, veering to the right. There were almost no trolls left wandering the roads, but the further from Noir’s destruction they went, the more noise Rose heard.

Over the rattle of the rain, she heard low rumbling. Sharp cracks spoke of breaking stone, and she pulled back on the reins to make Maplehoof slow from a gallop to a swift trot. She looked about, tilted her head as far back as she could without the rain pouring over the brim of her hat. She could not put a location to any sound; the cracks echoed strangely in the downpour. Frowning, she pulled on the reins to make Maplehoof stop entirely. Neither horse nor woman stayed still: Maplehoof’s ears twitched as Rose twisted this way and that in her searching for the sound.

The rumbling grew fiercer, hard enough to feel the shaking in the ground. Rose turned one way, but she yelped when Maplehoof began a new sprint down the street. She wrapped her arms around the reins and opened her mouth to shout a reprimand, but the roar of shattering stone behind them silenced her. Letting Maplehoof run free, she looked back. A massive troll she did not recognize was encased in a purple flickering psionic flame, and his struggling was audible even as Maplehoof fled. He wrenched himself free of the flame and unfolded from the rubble of the building he had been thrown through. She saw him look after her and spun back around to face forward and urge Maplehoof on.

Ahead, the street was broken in half. The road had been narrow for some time already, but it was high over the ground as well. The rain’s cacophony redoubled as it struck the street beneath them and flowed over onto the roads below. As they sped along, the road sloped downward to return to firm ground. Over the noise of the rain and Maplehoof’s hooves clattering on the pavement, Rose heard two sounds. The first was the recognizably powerful shouting from the troll behind them; it made her snap the reins to quicken Maplehoof’s gallop. The second was the throaty roar of an engine, even more familiar to her than the sound of her horse’s breathing.

Dave shot by on his motorcycle as they came to the end of the high road, casting curtains of mist from his tires. It seemed as though he was abandoning them with his speed, but the thrum of the engine died down abruptly. A new crest of water slashed into the rain from his back tire as he spun the bike around. He revved the engine to make it roar louder than before and came back faster than he had left. As he drew close, he summoned his sword; lightning snapped along its edge. He let go of the handlebars entirely and held his sword high. When he reached Rose, he tipped himself off the bike and slashed it as he fell.

The bike all but soared up the street, covered in lightning and glowing bright red. It slammed into the troll just as he crested the slope and exploded in a flash of hellish green fire. Dave pulled himself out of the thick, soft mud he had alchemized in falling and got to his feet. He took hold of the hand Rose held out and clambered up to sit behind her.

“Get a move on, sis,” he groaned. “Captor’ll do his damndest to keep him off our asses, but Zahhak ain’t gonna stay down too long. ‘Sides, we don’t wanna be late to ventilatin’ Noir’s hellhound heart.”

“Are you able to ride after a fall like that?”

He lifted a brow over his cracked and bent sunglasses. He plucked the glasses off, tossed them aside, and tapped his sides with his sword. Though he bit down on a curse at the sting of the electricity, he said, “There, no more busted ribs. Let’s get a fuckin’ move on already.”

She could not argue against him, and so kicked Maplehoof’s sides to start their run anew. “Why are you and Captor here? He’s off his post, and _you’re_ supposed to be going to the transmutation circle.”

“Sure, bust my chops,” he replied. “Nice to see you, too. Happy to have helped your ass get away from Zahhak. No need for thanks, sis. I won’t even mention that you’re completely off _your_ route and all over mine.”

“How did you know I needed help? I didn’t send up any flares.”

“I didn’t know. That whackjob Makara sold Terezi out, and Zahhak came after me and her. We got some help in bookin’ it—that psionic palooka Captor was on Zahhak’s tail before he even got to us, and he’s been doin’ his best to cover my ass.”

“That explains the colors before. Where’s Terezi now?”

He took one arm from around her waist and pointed in the distance. “Swing a left on that street.” When she had done so, he said, “Her and her squeeze are goin’ to get her sky monster. We gotta be ready to haul all our asses outta here once Noir’s dead. Remember to not look at its eyes when it’s around.”

“Noted.” She paused. “I’m sorry about your bike.”

“Right and a left after two blocks,” he said. “And it doesn’t matter. That was a copy. I stashed the real deal back at Peixes’ place. Don’t get all sentimental on me right now, sis. I got a feelin’ this shit’s gonna get rough, and the last thing we need is you worryin’ about a wrecked bike.”

“Are you accusing me of sentimentality, brother?”

“I don’t know. Is that still our old lady’s scarf on you?”

She elbowed him in the ribs a touch too hard to be considered gentle. He flicked her in the back of the head, but helped when Rose snapped the reins to make Maplehoof surge forward.

“When we dust outta here, I’m tellin’ ‘Rezi to leave your fuckin’ horse behind,” he grumbled.

She laughed. “It’s comforting to know your rapier wit is untarnished by nerves.”

“Good to see you’re still a snarky broad despite that grimdark shit.” He tightened his grip around her a moment. “You stay like this, y’hear?”

“I promised you already, brother. Stop fretting.”

He chuckled. “Fine.” He sat up and settled firmly on the saddle. “Ready to go kill Jack Noir, Rose?”

“I was ready the moment he killed our mother, Dave.”

“Good.” He closed his hands over hers to take hold of the reins. Snapping them, kicking his heels into the horse’s sides, he shouted, “All right, Maplehoof! Show us how much of a bangtail you can be!”

\-------

The plan had been simple. They set themselves in a broken shape around the city; some roamed closer to the transmutation circle than others. Jade and Karkat remained at the circle, Karkat on the ground to drive off any passersby and Jade on the rooftops to cover the streets with her rifle. It was in the plan to fire off signal flares when Noir was spotted; it was in the plan for everyone to head toward the circle upon seeing the flares. Those closest to Noir’s location would do their best to converge on him and weaken him before his arrival.

It was not in the plan to have hunters surge into the streets at John’s firing of a flare.

John had placed Tavros and Aradia directly opposite his and Vriska’s position, and they had been skirting the edges of the highblood section of the city. Fortune favored them, though, as they were put on edge instantly at the sight of the flare; when the hunters rushed at them, they were more than primed to fight.

The first attack was made by Aradia. She lashed out with the Bane of Mars, and the tails spat lightning when the whip cracked. Three trolls dropped to their knees screaming because the lightning destroyed their eyes. The fourth troll’s charge on Aradia was ruined by Tavros dashing forward to run the man through with his lance. Two more women leaped from a rooftop, but Aradia caught them in a telekinetic grip and slammed them to the ground hard enough to crack the pavement.

Catching sight of another trio pouring out of a nearby alley, Tavros plunged his lanced into the ground. The lightning shot along the ground till it reached the trolls, and great spikes were birthed at their feet to kill them. As the blood ran down the spikes, the rain beat and stirred it into a dark slurry that sluiced onto the stone.

Tavros caught Aradia by the elbow. “C’mon!” he said. “We have to get to the circle!” He pulled his lance from the stone and aimed it toward the sky. Before he could cast lightning into the clouds, Aradia grabbed his arm and tugged.

“If we send up a flare, it’ll make everyone think Noir teleported over here!” she said. “The others will find out about the hunters soon enough.” As she let go of his arm, she smiled. “I think fighting hunters will be a lot easier than taking down the demon.”

He looked at her a moment before returning her smile. They reached out in time with one another to tap their fingertips together. When the next wave of hunters arrived, they only saw Tavros and Aradia’s backs as they sprinted away.

\-------

When John had announced that Kanaya and Rose would not patrol near each other, but would be stationed directly opposite to each other on opposite sides of the city, he was met with two hard glares and a stern, sharp “no” from Kanaya. It took Karkat explaining that it was his part of the plan to make them begrudgingly acquiesce. The argument he made was that they would remain more focused if separated; he said when the flare went up, they would be fighting to reach each other.

That was entirely the truth when the first six hunters started their assault on Kanaya at the sight of John’s flare. She had turned on them with more fury than they would have expected from a lowblood, and they faltered at seeing both her rage and her glowing skin. Two trolls lost their heads before the rest of the group pulled themselves together. She revved her chainsaw fiercely, and the lightning that was caught in the saw’s teeth disintegrated the sword that a hunter swung at her head. The man stared at the space where his sword had been with his mouth agape before the chainsaw came down on his shoulder and ripped him apart.

As the man fell in pieces, one of the remaining trio sprinted around to Kanaya’s back and leaped at her with knives in her hands. She wrenched her chainsaw free of the man’s carcass and dodged aside, but one blade still slashed into her upper arm. The woman barked a laugh, but the laughter died when the wound did not gush with blood. It was an open wound, to be certain, but blood barely moved from it to stain Kanaya’s shirt sleeve. With a snarl, she turned on the stunned woman, revved the chainsaw again, and ran her through.

The last two hunters made their move in the form of a charge meant to knock Kanaya from her feet. She dropped her chainsaw and caught the man who tried to tackle her by his throat. A twist of her hands cracked his neck. Her grip had been tight enough to break skin, and his azure blood showed on her fingers when she let him drop to the ground. She released him to free her hands and caught the sword swinging at her head barehanded. She wrenched the sword from the woman’s hands and grabbed her by the neck.

“How many of you are there?” she snarled. “How did you know where to find us?”

“It’s not hard to find a bunch of lowbloods and freaks where they shouldn’t be,” the woman spat. “Especially when they’re idiots and they walk around staring up at the sky!”

“Do you understand that if you kill any one of my comrades, you could doom all of Alternia?”

“Better than leaving it in _your_ hands, lowblood! Once we kill you, we’re going after the rest of your rebellion!” She laughed, showing all her fangs. “Her Imperious Condescension wants us to go from the top down, starting with Peixes! We’ll get your leader, and then we’ll rip apart the freak brigandrifts!”

She opened her mouth to continue talking, but Kanaya slammed her jaw shut with a hard punch to her chin. Before the woman could react, Kanaya swept in, wrapped her arms around the woman, and bit deep into her neck. Dark blue blood gushed from the bites; the woman thrashed in pain. Kanaya drank, swallowing only when her mouth was full. Within minutes, the woman went limp and heavy. When no more blood came into her mouth, Kanaya let her crumple to the ground.

Swallowing once more to drag all the blood from her mouth down her throat, she wiped at her mouth with the back of her hand. She held it out into the rain to let it rinse the blood off and bent down to pick up her chainsaw when her hand was clean. Taps of the saw to her palms and arm healed the cuts there, and she sprinted away before the lightning faded from her skin.

As she ran, she veered to the right and kept her gaze at the level of the rooftops. It helped her spot hunters planning to pounce on her and interrupt their leaps with swipes of her chainsaw, but it let her track Noir’s movements. A blue-hued explosion here and bursts of green lightning there kept her on track to hunt him down as he approached with John and Vriska leading him on.

The roads had sloped steadily upward as she ran, and thus she found herself standing at a ledge surveying the fight below. Eridan was standing at a distance, rifle raised and jittering back and forth as he tried to aim. John and Vriska were stuck; Vriska tried to drive Noir forward while John kept him from escaping. It was too close range to throw her dice, and so Vriska duel toe-to-toe with Noir. Her hook-ended sword struck his black blade, the metal scraping and shrieking loudly.

“Fuckin’ _hell_ , Vris!” Eridan shouted. “Will you stop dancin’ around so I can shoot him in the head?”

She laughed at him while slashing at Noir’s throat. “What happened to the best shot on _aaaaaaaall_ of Alternia?”

“He keeps gettin’ blocked by the biggest loudmouth on Alternia!” he replied. “Hold him _still_!”

She made to snap out a reply, but her words were lost in a yelp as she ducked under a swing aimed at her head. Eridan aimed at Noir’s open, snarling mouth and pulled the trigger. The bolt caught Noir full on the tongue; his head rocked back with the force of the blast. Before Eridan could laugh in triumph, Noir’s jaws clamped shut around the growing explosion. He swallowed slowly, visibly, and let his steaming tongue hang out of his mouth when he opened it again.

John came in swinging his hammer and landed a blow on the white scar across Noir’s chest. Noir barked a cough as he was thrown back, but landed on his feet. He barely had time to block Vriska’s sword as she rushed in and stabbed at his head. He growled at her as he parried the flurry of strikes, but she grinned in return and relented enough to let him strike back. She ducked away from a blow aimed at her throat and gave Eridan another shot. The bolt from his gun struck Noir between the eyes and his fur caught blue fire. One-armed as he was, he dropped his sword to slap at the flames as they crept toward his eyes.

Laughing, Vriska swept in and caught Noir’s elbow with the hook of her sword. She wrenched his arm away, and laughed again when the blade ripped a line down his arm to the wrist and his red blood spurted into the world. He howled again, whipping his head back and forth as he stepped away. She took her left hand from her sword, plunged it into the pockets of her coat, and drew out her hooked dagger. As she lifted the dagger high, John shouted wordlessly and Kanaya leaped from her ledge.

Noir, smiling, surged forward as the fire vanished from his fur. His hand clamped down on Vriska’s head; the claw on his thumb pierced her left eye. Before she could wrench away, he opened his mouth wide and slammed his jaws shut high on her left arm. The crack of the bone shattering was audible just before Vriska screamed. Her heels slipped on the soaked pavement as she tried to pull away; her sword and dagger splashed down into a puddle.

With a blood-filled, bubbling laugh, Noir bit down hard and wrenched his head to one side. Vriska’s arm came away in his teeth, and he threw her into John as he ran forward. He dropped his hammer to catch her and her blood splattered over him. His feet slipped in the puddles of rain and blood and he brought them both to the ground.

“Oh, God—Vriska!” He slung one arm beneath her and gripped her left shoulder tight. He brought his other hand to her face, grimacing at the coolness of the blood pouring from her ruined eye. “Just hang on and I’ll—I’ll go get your arm and I’ll fix you!”

Another wicked crack made him look up. He watched, mouth agape, as Noir smiled at him and ate Vriska’s arm, bones and all, in massive mouthfuls.

“You fucking _asshole_!” Vriska shrieked. “Nobody _eats_ me!” She shoved hard against John’s chest to roll out of his lap, but could not find balance enough to get back to her feet. She pitched forward, hitting the ground when she could not catch herself with one arm. With a grunt, she rolled onto her back and reached her one remaining hand into the pouch on her belt. Before she could pull her dice free, John sprinted past her.

When Noir jumped back and the hammer came down, it was John’s strength alone that shattered the pavement and threw stones high into the air. He stepped in hard to follow Noir in his retreat, swinging his hammer too quickly for Noir to summon his sword and block it. His eyes were massive; his teeth were bared in a grimace. Swing after swing made Noir retreat further and further from Vriska, but there was no strategy in the strikes. It was rage that moved John, and it was because he had no plan that he fell through Noir’s body when he flickered out of reality. He hit the ground, the air in his lungs leaving him in a rush, and rolled over slowly to stare up at Noir and the sword stabbing through the rain toward his chest.

Eridan shot Noir in the back of the head over and over before the sword reached flesh. Tiny bursts of blue fire caught in his fur, dancing on the tips of his ears, but the flames died almost instantly. The force of the bolts was still enough to rock Noir and drive him step by stumbling step away from John, and Vriska pulled herself along the ground to where John lay. As Kanaya dashed in and swiped at Noir with her chainsaw, Vriska shoved herself upright, found her balance, and slapped John hard across the face.

“Stop being stupid and _fix me_!” she snapped.

He stared at her, barely reacting to the sound of gunfire and the noise of a chainsaw against a sword. “But your arm—”

“If you _or_ Noir think that Vriska Serket is going to be taken out of a fight because I lost one fucking arm, then you’re both idiots! Just stop the bleeding and we’ll deal with it later!” When he remained still, she smirked and tweaked his nose. “Come on, you silly dumb boy. It’s an order from your captain.”

For another moment, he was still. The moment passed and he gave her a small smile in return. He summoned his hammer and tapped near both of her injuries. Though she squirmed and cursed with the pain, she immediately grabbed hold of the hand he held out upon standing. They got her back to her feet, and she returned her hand to the pouch on her belt the moment he let her go.

Kanaya and Eridan had taken over John and Vriska’s roles. While Eridan kept Noir from retreating with precision shots, Kanaya drove him forward. He had stared unabashedly at her when she appeared, his eye wide and gaze confused. The first chunk she had cut from his armless shoulder had driven the confusion from him and left behind only rage. That rage grew from a rumble to a roar as she matched his speed and strength. They snarled in tandem, each sound coming in response to blows that landed roughly on them. The worst of the blows never met flesh: Noir blurred out of the world when the chainsaw came at his neck, and Eridan made sure to aim a bolt at Noir’s head whenever his sword came too close to Kanaya.

A fierce shove from Noir sent Kanaya skidding backward through the water caught in the street. She brought her chainsaw up in a guard before her as Noir rushed at her, sword raised. From the corner of one eye, she saw Eridan drop down to one knee. Before either of them could make their move, Vriska’s dice went flying past them. They hit the ground, landing in a puddle at Noir’s feet and finishing their roll abruptly. Blue-hued lightning shot from the dice and wound around Noir in a cage, and he howled as the electricity stabbed at him.

He wrenched his body free of the cage, stumbling away as he curled at the waist. He snarled, frothy spittle dripping from his muzzle. His body shuddered; the great black wings that had carried him away long ago reappeared on his back. With another great howl, he flapped his wings and began to rise off the ground. There was barely a yard between his clawed toes and the ground before Eridan fired a shot into his ruined eye socket. Noir screamed at the pain of the bolt, but went silent when Kanaya leaped into the air after him and lopped off one of his wings.

Surprise had muted him by the time he hit the ground. Blood poured from the stump of his wing; he watched it flow onto the pavement with a narrow eye. He rose slowly from his knees, head twisted to try and see the wound. When he tried to banish the wings, remove the source of the pain, he was unable to do so. His eye widened. He stared a moment longer before turning to look at the others. His gaze fell on Kanaya. Just as before, the surprise and confusion left him all at once for rage.

“You _bitch_!” he screamed at her. “You filthy little bitch! I’ll kill you! I’ll _kill_ you for this!”

Kanaya replied, “Good luck,” and turned on heel to sprint away with the others right behind her.

\-------

Karkat was nothing if not an active leader. When Tavros and Aradia arrived at the circle with ten hunters trailing behind them, he shouted for Jade to get down on the streets and open fire as he charged into the fray. They killed five hunters apiece, and Karkat whirled on Tavros and Aradia with blue and azure blood splattered on him.

“What the fuck happened?” he snapped.

“Eridan spreading rumors about the humans worked too well,” Aradia said. “They were just waiting for a real sign of them.”

“Just what we need with the demon on his way here.” He flicked his sickles to cast the blood from them. He looked this way and that, moving his eyes slowly. Eventually, he gestured to two wide avenues leading into the circle. “Lalonde and Strider are coming in on those roads. You two stand watch there and take down whoever’s on their asses.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Jade. “Harley’ll cover Egbert and Serket’s street.”

“What about you?” Tavros asked.

“I’ll take care of whatever comes in later.” He grimaced a moment. “I’d like to hope that Makara doesn’t know where we are, but that’d be pretty fucking stupid of me.” He shook his head and cast the grimace from his face before gesturing toward the streets again. “Get your asses over there and get ready. I don’t want this shit storm getting any worse.”

They nodded and sprinted to their respective positions. Karkat began to prowl at a rapid pace at the edges of the square, peering down the alleys and narrow streets as he went. Whenever he spotted a troll emerging into the square, Karkat bolted to the end of the street and cut down the stragglers who made it through the hail of bullets. Behind him, he heard the dying screams of the hunters that tried to attack the others and smiled grimly for it. The sound of hooves clattering did not make him hesitate when he was in the middle of another group of hunters; it instead made him swing faster and harder to be able to turn about sooner. He nearly faltered at the sight of Rose and Dave both atop Maplehoof, but he ran to them as they dismounted and Rose sent Maplehoof away.

“Why are you two idiots together?” he barked. He jabbed a finger toward Dave and snapped, “ _You’re_ supposed to have Terezi with you—” He turned his finger toward Rose. “And _you’re_ supposed to have Ampora!”

“Change of plans, rag-a-muffin,” Dave said. “We had Zahhak comin’ after us, so we split up.”

“Then who’s dealing with Zahhak? Did you kill him?”

“Captor’s beatin’ on his ass.”

“And we have Gamzee Makara’s sudden appearance to thank for my being off course,” Rose said.

“ _Great_ ,” Karkat snarled. “Just what we need with the demon breathing down our necks.” He closed his mouth and looked at the ground in thought. The moment died with more gunfire, and he spun immediately to attend to a new group of hunters. Though he killed them, a low roar sounded from all around the city square. He walked backward slowly, casting his eyes about. All at once, dozens of hunters poured out of the alleys and streets and into the square, weapons and fangs bared and eyes wild.

One of the hungers swaggered forward, smirking as he moved. He looked at each of them, eyes roving slowly. When he saw Karkat, his smirk grew broader.

“The lowly mutant Vantas!” the man said with a laugh. “Nice to finally meet the freak who’s been such a fucking thorn in our side. And you’ve brought so many friends with you!” His gaze turned to Rose. “Is this the freak alchemist we’ve heard about?” He snickered. “You’ve got a huge bounty on your head, brigandrift, you know that?”

“I fail to see how that’s important in relation to what’s happening currently,” she replied.

The man stared at her, lips faintly parted. He looked from Rose to his compatriots and back again with incredulity in his face. “Are you serious? It’s important because we’re here _for_ your head!”

“Has anyone informed you of the demonic creature tearing through the city?” she asked. “The one that’s caused considerable damage already?”

“What _about_ the demon?”

“You really wanna do a song and dance with Noir?” Dave said. He leaned around Rose and gestured with his sword. “I think you’re gonna get your chance right now.”

Everyone turned in time to see Kanaya sprint in from the street. Noir, limbs lengthened like a hound’s, charged in behind her. He leaped at her, claws outstretched, but a pair of blue bolts from behind knocked him to the ground. When he tried to get to his feet, more shots from Eridan and Jade’s rifles threw him back down. John, Vriska, and Eridan ran by him, stopping only when they and Jade had reached Dave, Rose, and Kanaya. Though Eridan and Jade continued to fire at him, Noir flickered out of existence to dodge his next few shots. He took to his feet and swung his head back and forth to look about; he stopped only when he saw Rose.

“You think this is going to help, mother?” he snarled. “Getting all these people around you?” He pointed to Kanaya, his face twisting with rage. “I’m going to kill _her_ , mother! I’m going to kill her over and over and I’m going to make you _watch_!” He swiped his arm through the air and roared, “I’m going to kill _everyone here_!”

The leader of the hunters threw a knife at Noir’s head. He faltered when Noir caught it in his fangs and bit it in half, but he stood tall and puffed out his chest. He said, “Don’t get so fucking cocky, demon! You’re outnumbered and outmatched!”

For a moment, Noir was still. He stared at the man with as much disbelief in his face as the man had shown to Rose before. The disbelief faded slowly, replaced with a deep, dark smile He stood even taller, twisting against the kilter his body had from the uneven weight of his mangled wings. He chuckled and said, “You’re a fucking idiot.”

The troll opened his mouth to shout back a response, but Noir teleported to stand in front of him. Before the man could speak, Noir plunged his claws through his throat and ripped off his head. The other hunters howled at the sight and charged as one at Noir. Laughing, summoning his sword, Noir began to fell the trolls as though they were weeds.

All at once, John, Dave, Jade, and Rose sprinted toward the fray, catalysts in hand. Karkat moved next, chasing down John at the head of the group. Were it not for the near foot of height and many more pounds of weight John had in his favor, Karkat would have tackled him to the ground. The others stopped as they struggled, giving Aradia, Tavros, Eridan, Vriska, and Kanaya time enough to catch up.

“Let go!” John said. “We have to go help them!”

“No the fuck we _don’t_!” Karkat snarled.

Jade caught one of Karkat’s arms and pulled him away from John. She said, “We can’t just let them get killed!”

“We were going to kill them if they got in our way! Let Noir kill them _for_ us!”

John took Karkat by the shoulders and shook him once. “I don’t want to let him kill anyone else! He’s already killed so many people because we haven’t been able to stop him, and I don’t want any more people to die because of us!”

“If we let him keeping killing, he’s going to forget us,” Jade said. “They won’t be able to stop him from escaping. We can’t let him get away—not when we’re this close!”

Karkat opened his mouth but did not speak.

“And do you really want to give the other major whackjobs to catch up with us?” Dave asked. “The more time we waste lettin’ Noir hack these palookas up, the more time their bosses got to find us. We gotta do this fast and dust faster.”

He hesitated. He looked to Kanaya. When she nodded, he jerked his chin in return. He pulled free of John’s hands, scowling, and summoned his sickles. He looked at each of the humans in turn, ending with Rose. “Got a plan?”

“Scatter the trolls and make Noir focus on us again,” she replied.

“Do you have a plan to make that _happen_ , witch-bit—” He shook his head fiercely. “ _Lalonde_?”

She summoned the Thorns of Oglogoth and smirked. “Go all out.”

He returned her smirk. “Finally! A good plan from you!” He turned to the others and raised one sickle high. “Let’s fuck them up!”

As the rest of the group charged in, Eridan and Jade immediately brought their rifles to bear and fired into the melee. Their shots struck their targets in the chest: Eridan’s bolt tore straight through the troll while Jade’s lightning bounced wildly from person to person and seared their flesh. Noir paused, pulling his sword from a woman’s gut as he turned about. He leaped back and away from the lance Tavros thrust at his throat, snarling as he moved. Though he pulled back his arm to swing his sword, Aradia lashed out with her whip and caught him by the wrist. He turned to howl at her, but found that she had passed the whip to John. With a mighty heave, John yanked Noir clean off his feet and hauled him away from the hunters.

The first troll that tried to follow was struck full in the face by Dave’s fist, and the second received the same from Karkat’s foot. Three more made an attempt, but each of them came away less one limb thanks to Kanaya. Quick flicks of the Thorns from Rose sent lightning at the remaining six, and they yelped at the fire that caught in their clothes. Neither the driving rain nor their frantic slapping killed the fire, and so they ran away screaming and in flames. The injured began to follow after them, leaving behind their dead.

Noir had wrenched himself free of Aradia’s whip and stood growling at John. Cords of oozing, steaming black saliva hung from his maw; his muzzle seemed to ripple with the force of his snarling. His eye darted back and forth as the others encircled him; his noise grew even more violent.

“You fucking _worms_!” he snapped. “That’s all you are! You’re nothing but weak little worms, and I’m going to turn you into worm _food_!”

“How’re we gonna be worm food if we’re already worms, Jack?” Dave asked with a sneering smirk. “Don’t make a lot of sense!”

“Shut your fucking mouth!” Noir howled. “I’m going to tear you all limb from limb!” He jabbed his sword toward Vriska, smiling as he did. “You can ask her how good I am at that.”

She looked at him and lifted the brow over her ruined eye. Smirking to show her fangs, she shrugged. “I’m still up for kicking your ass, so I don’t think you’re _thaaaaaaaat_ great.” She bounced her dice in her hand, tossing and catching in fluid motions. “And I’m sure John would like to pay you back for that.”

Noir’s growling resumed. He looked at all of them with rage in his face. “You think this is going to do anything? You really think you can do _anything_ to me?”

“I think that you losing an arm, a wing, and an eye counts as something,” Rose said. “But I suppose a cornered coward would try to sell himself as dangerous.”

Noir’s ears twitched, slapping at the raindrops falling on them. His shoulders hunched even as his spine straightened to make him taller. Lightning crackled around him, winding like brittle snakes. He murmured, “Coward? You’re calling _me_ a coward, mother?”

“If the word fits,” she replied with a smile.

Slowly, his lips curled to match her smile. He lifted his sword and said, “You’ll run before I do.”

She brought up the Thorns. “Prove it.”

He leaped straight for her, aiming the tip of his sword for her forehead. Kanaya was faster, and so it was her chainsaw that knocked away Noir’s blade. After her came a throw of the dice from Vriska, and Noir was caught up in stocks and chains. He tried to rip the blue wood apart, but a blast in the back from Eridan made him pitch forward. Dave kicked him on the snout as he fell, getting a wounded pup’s yip out of Noir for his efforts. Noir landed with a splash at Rose’s feet, blood leaking from his nose. As he tried to push himself up, Rose stomped on the back of his neck and forced him down again.

“I don’t seem to be running, Noir,” she said.

Snarling, he opened his mouth to reply. His roaming claws slipped into a groove; he went quiet to look about. Another burst of lightning from above lit the city square, casting light into the water that filled the carvings of the transmutation circle. His eye widened. After a moment, he chuckled.

“Are you _sure_ , mother?” he asked.

“How could I _not_ be sure that I’m not running?” she snapped.

He turned his head to grin at her. “I’m asking if you’re sure you don’t _want_ to run from me.”

The grin was one that Kanaya recognized. It sent a hard, ice-cold weight to the center of her stomach, and she moved instantly at the sight of it. She shot out her arms, grabbed Rose by the shoulders, and yanked her backward. Had she moved any slower, at any other time, it would have been too late. The jerking force of the movement made Rose gasp, but it also made her hat fall from her head. Just before it fluttered in front of her eyes, she caught sight of great swells of flesh squirming and writhing along the length of Noir’s back.

Tendrils of dagger-ended flesh exploded from Noir. One rushed at Rose, but only pierced through her hat as Kanaya pulled her away. The other trolls moved half a heartbeat after that: Karkat leaped in front of Jade to slash apart the tentacle that stabbed at her head; Vriska pulled John out of the way; and Tavros knocked aside all that came near Aradia. As Eridan skipped backward and peppered the tendrils that squirmed after him, Aradia reached out a hand. A shimmer of translucent white energy caught hold of the tentacles that surged toward Dave, slowing them enough that he had time to react and cut them down.

With a roar, Noir twisted about; the tendrils ripped the stocks from around his neck. It was at Aradia that he leaped next, sword abandoned to let him reach out his shining claws. He ripped open four gashes of deep burgundy along the length of her torso, earning a scream from her. Tavros dropped his lance in turn to dive forward, wrapping his arms around Noir and bearing him to the ground. Fangs bared, he smashed his fists against Noir’s muzzle. With each punch, he growled out words. “Don’t—you—touch—my—matesprit!”

Noir whipped his head about in the middle of Tavros’ next punch, closing his fangs around his hand and biting down hard. Before he could rip off Tavros’ hand, Vriska rushed in and crammed her dagger into the corner of Noir’s jaw. He gagged at the pressure, mouth popping open, and Vriska kicked him in the throat the moment she could.

“Don’t act like the entire arm of a highblood isn’t a good enough snack for you, asshole!” she snapped. “No more food for you, even if it’s a lowblood!”

Noir pushed himself upright, but his body was caught up in the white energy again. Though he writhed, he was flung high up into the air. Grimacing with the effort of it, Aradia brought both hands down swiftly to throw Noir at the ground. The tendrils surged from his body on his approach, and they caught him before he smashed into the pavement. He got to his feet and summoned his sword, grinning as the tentacles squirmed around him.

“Like them?” he said with a chuckle. “I’m still evolving, parents. I’ll keep evolving and I’ll keep getting more ways to rip off your heads.” He let his head loll to one side, turning to Rose. “Are you really sure you don’t want to run from me, mother?”

Rose sneered at him. Pulling away from Kanaya’s hands, she went to where her pierced hat had fallen and plucked it from the ground. With a tap of a needle, the hat was repaired; she set it upon her sodden head. She looked at him from beneath the hat’s brim, her eyes hard. When she spoke, her voice was even harder. “I refuse to run.”

The smile on Noir’s face vanished instantly. His muzzle began to vibrate once again with his snarling, and his eye grew wide with fury. Green lightning began to slither along his body, surging with the fiercest of his growls. He held his sword so tightly that his furious shaking was visible through the blade’s quaver. He hissed, “Fear me, mother.”

“I will not.”

“ _Fear me_!”

She stared at him. At the faint sounds of movement—the clank of the gears in Kanaya’s chainsaw shifting; the splashes of Dave and John’s feet falling hard in puddles on either side of her; Jade cocking her rifle—she took in a slow breath. She tightened her grip on the Thorns and smiled. “Never.”

With an inhuman shriek that echoed loud against the thunder, Noir went berserk. He charged at Rose, slavering and snarling with his sword held high. She stepped back as he came forward, bringing up her needles to catch Noir’s blade in their cross as it fell. Though a web of lightning erupted from the needles to halt the sword, the pavement shattered beneath them with the force of the strike. A screech rang out as Noir drew back his sword, scraping metal against metal, and he howled as he lunged in with his mouth opened wide.

John roared as he swung his hammer in to smash against Noir’s chest. Lightning flashed from the hammer to the white cracks in Noir’s skin, and he howled as he was thrown backward. Three bolts from Jade’s rifle tore holes in his remaining wing; the wounds spat blood up into the rain as he jerked about with the pain. He spun on his heel to howl at Jade, but Eridan shot another round into his open mouth. He threw his head back and spat the energy into the clouds above, and turned on his latest assailant. Before he could even bring up his sword, Aradia’s whip cut him full across the back between his wings.

When Noir turned about to bellow at Aradia, he received another punch from Tavros and the stab of his lance into one thigh. He stumbled away, turning as he went, and found himself face to face with Dave. A duel began then, both of their faces twisted in fury. Noir hacked madly, one armed and wounded as he was, and Dave parried each swing before replying with a blow infinitely more precise. Where he had once been the losing party, Dave now gave Noir slash after slash, burning the wounds open and raw with bursts of alchemic lightning. He forced them to turn about entirely and began to drive Noir backward.

It was because the back of his heel caught on the gouges in the ground that Noir paused in the slightest. He looked away from Dave, once again seeing the transmutation circle carved behind him. The moment of hesitation cost him: Dave drove his sword clean through Noir’s chest. Another howl left him as he pulled himself from Dave’s sword. Blood pouring down his body, he stumbled away and began to turn about. Vriska’s dice landed before him, each face showing an eight. A ghostly apparition of a woman troll appeared, as bright blue as the dice and wielding Vriska’s hook-ended sword. Laughing strange noise, she rammed the sword through the hole in Noir’s chest, lifted him from his feet, and slammed him down to the ground.

Wheezing, bleeding from so many different wounds, Noir hauled himself to his feet. He straightened up and expected Dave to stand before him. It was Rose he found instead, wielding her needles as though they were long knives. She slashed at him, driving him back further. She turned aside and dodged away from his returning strikes with almost no time to spare. Cuts showed on her arms, her chest, her cheeks. He took the hat from her head again with a wild slash, cutting open a line on her forehead that sent blood pouring down her face. In the moment she flinched at the sting of the blood flowing into her eyes, he cackled and lunged.

Kanaya’s chainsaw was waiting for him when he arrived, and she drove it into his gut with as much force as he had moved in. He choked, hand uncurling from the sword, as the saw ripped apart his spine. There was no stopping his fall when Kanaya slipped a foot behind his feet and shoved hard, and he plummeted into the center of the circle with Kanaya driving the chainsaw deep into the ground. Dave swept in as Noir tried to kick and flail, stabbing his sword through the bones of his ankle and pinning it down. John moved in on Noir’s other foot, obliterating it and its leg with three great swings. When the tendrils erupted from his body, Karkat tossed his sickles to Jade and she cut them all apart.

Snarling, spitting, writhing, Noir tried to grab at the chainsaw and pull it free from his body. Rose’s boot slammed down on his arm, snapping the bones with how hard she stomped. She dropped down and stabbed one needle through his palm and the other through his forearm, pinning him completely. He screamed wordlessly at her as she strode away, twisting his head to follow her movement. He heard splashes all around him: John, Jade, Dave, and Kanaya had dropped to their knees at the edges of the transmutation circle where his limbs would have reached. Another splash sounded above his head, and he looked up to see Rose kneeling there. Before he could roar at her, four more splashes sounded. Rose lifted her hands and slapped them down to the edge of the circle, and Noir saw her smile in the instant before he was blinded by green lightning.

All at once, he was seized by many hands. He had no time to react before he was hauled from the ground entirely, and when he looked up into was into what he thought was a desolate black void. The void was suddenly filled with great gleaming gold eyes. He twisted his head about, finding the others holding tight to him while Rose stood before them all.

“We have a present for you!” she shouted to the eyes. “It’s your son!”

The world around them screamed, and Noir felt a great stab of dread. The panic was great enough that he did not have it in him to fight the hands holding him; he was paralyzed when the hands gripped him even tighter. Before he understood what was happening, he was flung up hard and into the reaching tentacles. As they began to rip him apart, he screamed to match the shrieking of the gods.

Kanaya put her hands to the others’ backs and pushed hard. She sprinted ahead of them as they began to run, shouting, “This way!” When she reached Rose, she caught one of her hands and pulled her along. Behind them, the gods shrieked louder than they ever had before. Kanaya felt something in her ears rupture, but not before she heard pained shouting. Deafened, she turned about to find the others standing with their hands clapped over their ears. She returned to them and held out her hands. When they shook their heads in confusion, she took Rose’s hand in one of hers and Jade’s hand in the other and nodded at them all.

The screaming of the gods was so fierce that it rattled their bodies, and they grabbed hold of each other’s hands without hesitation. Kanaya took a deep breath, leaned back, and pulled hard. Gravity twisted, taking the ground from beneath them and letting them fall away. Though Jade jumped at the falling and let go of Kanaya’s hand, Kanaya took the chance to point down to the gleaming bubbles below. John nodded once and pulled Jade and Dave in by their hands, wrapping his arms around their shoulders when they were in reach. Another scream from the gods shook them once more, and Rose’s fingers slipped free of Dave and Kanaya’s hands. She began to fall away from them, veering off to one side. Dave howled for her, clawing at the air, but John did not release him. Kanaya twisted in the air, reaching for the hand Rose stretched out to her.

Seconds before they hit the dream bubbles, they managed to catch hold of each other.

\-------

Kanaya stood on a dirt road. Overhead, the sky was completely clear and a bright, brilliant blue. A faint breeze brought to her a scent she could only assume was from some plant. In the distance stood a massive house, its walls painted a clean white beneath the crawling ivy scattered here and there. To the house’s left, she saw a pure white dog prancing about with a tiny, black-haired girl in a green jumper toddling after it. A black-haired boy in a white shirt and blue short pants walked behind the girl, keeping her from toppling over.

Slowly, she began to walk up the road. At the house’s front was a porch, open to the air and with no real railings to speak of. A wide porch swing made of deep red wood was beside the front door, and a woman with white-blonde hair sat upon it. A small girl with the same colored hair and a pale purple dress sat on the porch by the woman’s feet, scratching a piece of chalk against the wood beneath her. The girl sat back from the chalk transmutation circle, looking up to the woman expectantly. The woman leaned forward and a smile curled her lips.

“Very good, sweetheart,” the woman said. “Now tell me what the formula is for.”

“To make a flower,” the girl replied.

“Right. Go ahead and try it.”

Kanaya stepped gingerly onto the porch, timing her footfall to the soft slap of the girl’s hands onto the porch. She approached quietly amidst the crackle of the lightning and stopped when the girl relented. A small flower, made of the same wood as the porch, sat in the center of the circle. The girl was silent as she stood up, took the flower in hand, and held it out to the woman. When the carving was not taken, Kanaya looked up. The woman looked back at her.

“I was wondering when you’d get here,” the woman said.

Kanaya stared at her. When the girl turned about and looked at her with violet eyes, her own eyes widened. The girl took a step backward, gaze confused, but the woman stopped her with a gentle hand on her back. The woman stood up, keeping her hand on the girl’s back as she went.

“You’re Kanaya,” the woman said mildly.

She did not step away, but instead narrowed her eyes. “How do you know that?”

The woman smiled and stroked the girl’s hair. “Why wouldn’t I know the woman who my Rose cares about?” She took her hand from the girl’s hair to tap her shoulder. As the girl turned, her body flickered and blurred. The woman set her hands on Rose’s gray cheeks, sighing despite her smile. “Oh, sweetheart. You’ve come a long way from giving me carvings of your namesake.”

Rose blinked, and her voice was dazed when she said, “Mother?” She blinked again, looking to Kanaya with confusion in her face. “Wait...Kanaya? You were never on Earth.”

“No, but that doesn’t really matter in dream bubbles,” the woman said.

Rose’s eyes widened as she turned back. “Then you’re not just a memory playing in my head?”

“Hardly,” the woman laughed. “I called you two down here myself.” She patted Rose’s cheeks. “I’m not going to keep you long.”

Rose hesitated but a moment before catching her mother’s hands and holding tight. “But we haven’t—I haven’t said—”

The woman laughed again and pulled her hands free to ruffle Rose’s hair. “You don’t have to! The only one who has to say anything is me!”

“But—”

“And what I have to say is that you’re good, sweetheart,” she murmured. “You are good and strong and _brilliant_ , just like I always knew you’d be. And that’s all you ever have to know.” She set a kiss on Rose’s forehead before patting her cheeks once again. She reached out to grasp one of Kanaya’s hands. “Take care of her.” She smirked. “I’ll come after you if you don’t.” With a sigh, she let go of the both of them. “All right, get going.”

Rose stepped back, eyes wide. With anxious, twitching hands, she took hold of her mother’s shoulders. “I can’t— _leave_ , not now, not—we only just started talking and—I can’t, I—”

She laughed and patted Rose’s hands. “I’m not going to disappear when you wake up, sweetheart! I’ll still be here in the bubbles! But you have things to take care of in the waking world, so you need to go.”

With something close to panic in her face, Rose shook her head. “I can’t go—Mother, I can’t go, not yet, please—I’m _sorry_ , Mother—don’t go, _please_ —”

Very gently, she wrapped her arms around Rose and held her tight. She whispered, “I’m not leaving you, Rose. All you have to do to find me again is fall asleep.”

Kanaya put her hand on Rose’s shoulder. “Darling, we can’t linger.”

For a long moment, Rose was completely still. She swallowed hard, let go, and stepped back. She met her mother’s eyes and said, “I’ll come back.”

She chuckled. “I know you will. Now go on.”

Rose nodded. At the touch of Kanaya’s hand to her back, she closed her eyes tight.

\-------

The rain was fierce enough to be blinding when Rose opened her eyes. She blinked repeatedly, swiping her hands weakly at the water in the hopes of driving it away. Her hands were caught immediately and she was heaved upright and onto her feet. The moment she had in standing on her own was long to let her recognize where she stood: a long dock extending into the sea from the caverns far below Feferi’s landside hive. It was into Dave’s rough hug that she was pulled first, but John and Jade enfolded them within seconds and they reached out in turn to return the embrace. They held tight to each other, sitting in human silence amidst the noise of rain and waves.

“Stop being such sentimental assholes and get the fuck in here!” Karkat barked.

“Shut your fuckin’ yapper and let us have a minute, rag-a-muffin!” Dave shouted, but his voice was so without venom it broke into laughter. He hugged Rose even tighter, nearly lifting her off her feet. Though he set her down safely, John swept in and plucked her from the ground entirely. Laughing madly, he danced about with her in his arms and swung her back and forth. He set her down with another whoop of laughter, and Jade rushed in to take his place. She hugged Rose tight enough for her body to tremble, but she laughed as much as the others before her.

Karkat snapped, “Fine, that’s a minute!” and stomped out from beneath the cover of the outcropping and onto the long dock. He grabbed Rose by the back of her shirt and hauled her along. She would have protested had she not turned about to see Kanaya standing at the end of the dock, the shredded ruins of her hat in hand. It was not brusquely that she pulled free of Karkat’s grip; she even favored him with a small smile. It was simply that she was able to walk faster without hands upon her, and she went to Kanaya freely.

“Why does it take you so long to wake up nowadays?” Kanaya asked, brow quirked.

“Because I finally have good sleep to look forward to,” she replied. She reached for her hat a moment, but paused. She turned her fingers tentatively, smiling when she took hold of a Thorn of Oglogoth. With a casual tap of the needle, she repaired the hat. Before she could take it, Kanaya set it atop her head. Though she set it neatly at first, she smirked and flicked the hat’s brim. As Rose tipped her head back to keep the hat from slipping off, Kanaya leaned in and kissed her hard.

A good ten seconds passed before Karkat made his next remark by way of noisy coughing. When Kanaya turned to give him a withering glare, he stuck his tongue out at her. “Are you flighty broads done yet?”

Rose was too weary to do much more than chuckle. As she let the needle fade out of her grip, she looked at her hand. Her fingers seemed to be covered in black oil, and she rubbed them against her jeans. When she looked again, the tips of her fingers were not ashen gray, but the pale color they had once been. She let out another small chuckle and, smiling, took hold of Kanaya’s hand.

“Not quite,” Rose said to Karkat. “I think we still have your rebellion to enact.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, that is the ending.
> 
> For _this_ story.

**Author's Note:**

> When I write something based on a drawing, it often winds up just scarpering off to some bizarre little tangent world and living happily as a vignette.
> 
> For this, I asked _one_ little question to myself, and it all exploded in my skull. And I _really_ like it.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Remembrance (Dreams of the Dead Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/722024) by [magicites](https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicites/pseuds/magicites)




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